A special needs school in Wokingham which was placed in special measures after serious safety concerns were raised has been taken over by an academy trust that is hoping to secure "rapid improvement".

Northern House School, in Gipsy Lane, is now run by Chiltern Way Academy Trust and it will be renamed Chiltern Way Academy Wokingham.

The academy was rated inadequate by Ofsted in October 2018 and placed in special measures.

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In a scathing report, Ofsted said “all aspects of the school’s work are inadequate” and raised concerns about “very unsafe behaviour” and “insufficient supervision”.

Northern House School Trust, which ran the school, announced plans to step aside in June 2019 and earlier this year Ofsted said they were “not taking effective action towards the removal of special measures”.

But Catherine Turton-Ryz, from the Regional Schools Commissioner, said Chiltern Way Academy Trust has “the expertise, the knowledge and capacity to bring about rapid improvement”.

“We want to see a very rapid improvement there for our most vulnerable children in society and we feel that Chiltern Way are the academy trust to do that,” she told a Wokingham Borough Council meeting on November 5.

She also said the trust already runs three successful special needs schools in Buckinghamshire and receives “great reviews”.

Councillor Alison Swaddle (Conservative) said: “That school has had a long history of problems through different providers. We would really like to see a big improvement there.”

The meeting heard that Ofsted had been carrying out inspections of the school every term before the pandemic, but they won’t carry out another inspection for at least two years, unless significant safeguarding concerns are raised.