Pupils at a Staffordshire school have to ask staff for toilet roll each time they need to visit the lavatory, school inspectors have found.

An Ofsted team also discovered that it was common practice at Park Avenue Girls’ School in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, not to provide soap for handwashing or suitable drinking water.

The independent Muslim school was rated “inadequate” in a formal report, which also found pupil safeguarding to be ineffective and education outcomes to be below standard.

Following a visit carried out in October, Ofsted found that: “At the time of the inspection, it was not the school’s common practice to provide soap for pupils’ handwashing, toilet roll in the toilets or suitable drinking water.

“Toilet paper is available from the school office when pupils request it.

“Pupils told inspectors that they sometimes avoided using toilets for the whole school day because of this.”

Ofsted findings

The report continued: “During the inspection, leaders began to put toilet roll into the toilets, provide soap and suitable drinking water.”

Inspectors also found that many of the children at the 34-pupil school “attain below their capabilities”. This was particularly true of the most able.

It had developed systems to be able to monitor pupils’ development and progress, but these were “not yet having a strong impact”, Ofsted added.

The report also found that pupils were “well-prepared for life in modern Britain” and that the school did promote fundamental British values during lessons.

It added: “Pupils study a range of world religions. Inspectors observed them discussing these in detail, with sensitivity, understanding and respect, thereby acquiring an effective understanding of why different people’s faiths are important to them.”

The school has been contacted for comment.

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