A Greenwich school has been criticised by Ofsted just a month after its plans to build a new permanent site were blocked by councillors.

In its first Ofsted report since opening in 2016, The International Academy of Greenwich, which is currently based on a temporary site, was said to 'require improvement' in all areas.

At the end of July a planning meeting ended in chaos as parents blasted councillors for blocking the redevelopment of the school.

The International Academy of Greenwich proposed to build a 765-pupil school on the Bowring Sports Ground.

The free school is currently based in an office building in nearby Meadowcourt Road and said that a vote against the plans was “a vote to close the doors” of the school.

Ofsted said that since opening, the school has had numerous changes to senior leadership, as well as a very high staff turnover, resulting in an unsettled school setting.

They said that despite recent work to raise standards, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inconsistent.

READ MORE: International Academy of Greenwich redevelopment blocked by councillors

Other weaknesses detailed in the report are as follow:

- "The provision for pupils with SEND has been weak, with leaders not accurately assessing pupils' needs when they initially joined the school."

- "Some of the trustees have been involved in the school since it opened, however governors have not consistently helped to drive improvement."

- "Pockets of good teaching exist around the school, but as one pupil said, 'it just depends on the teacher'."

- "Teachers do not have consistently high expectations of pupils and do not motivate them to do their best."

- "A few pupils are concerned with bullying. They say that it happens and, although staff try and deal with it, the bullying continues."

- "A small minority of pupils express openly homophobic views."

Read the report here.

But the school reacted strongly to the claim some of its pupils expressed homophobic views.

A spokesman said the school "categorically do not believe that homophobia is an issue", stating the incident referred to in the report followed "a discussion an Ofsted Inspector witnessed about sexuality and identity in our modern society".

The statement continued: "During the debate a student stated that the conversation had made them question some of the views and prejudices that they had.

"Instead of being critical of the views that the student had held, we actually think that they should be applauded for listening to all sides of the argument and for questioning some of their previous thoughts. This is kind of thinking is an important part of a broad and engaging education."

The school opened in September 2016 with its first intake of Year 7 pupils.

Currently there are three classes in Year 7 and 9, and four classes in Year 8.

In response to the report, Liz Robinson, co-director of Big Education, said: “The school has had some significant setbacks, and many concerns raised in the report relate directly or indirectly to the school’s temporary accommodation and the uncertainty that introduces to staff and curriculum planning.

"The inspector notes that these issues have had “a negative impact” on our community.  This is further impacted by the fact that planning permission for the new school building has been rejected. 

“Until the accommodation situation is clarified by the DfE these issues continue to provide challenges for the school team.  That being said, inspectors praised the real and rapid progress being made and our staff and students should be commended for their attitude and abilities.

“I take great heart from the fact that Inspectors found that the majority of our pupils wanted to “try hard and show a mature and thoughtful approach to their learning.

“While there is a great deal that we cannot control on that front, this report brings to focus the things that we can control.

“We are working hard to continue to ensure that our students have the best learning experience possible and to embed the many new systems we have brought in to ensure IAG is strengthening rapidly. We have also strengthened our leadership structure to bring additional capacity to help us plan and respond to any decision that the Minister may make. This will free up our principal and other school leaders to focus purely on helping our students to thrive.”