Harrogate Army Foundation College has been rated outstanding in a new Ofsted report.

The army college’s result was released alongside 13 other centres, all inspected under a new framework.

The college, on Penny Pot Lane, Killinghall is the only basic training establishment for 16-19 year olds in the British Army.

The Ofsted report praised the college for its “very good training .. immaculate facilities”.

It also gave positive feedback on its safeguarding saying the college investigated incidents throughly and made necessary improvements.

In recent years the college had been in the spotlight following bullying and assault complaints by soldiers and their families. In 2018, the Guardian revealed college staff were accused of 50 cases of assaulting or mistreating teenage recruits between 2014 and 2017.

This week’s report said recruits said “there is no bullying at college” and believed staff would deal with any incidents that arise.

Areas for improvement

A common reason for recruits leaving training was down to not understanding the demands of the army. Ofsted said the college needs to give accurate information.

It also pointed out the recruits’ poor diet, adding that the soldiers should be taught the importance of healthy eating.

Persistent weaknesses across the 14 sites in resources, infrastructure, accommodation and improvement planning were found.

Ofsted said the same problems had been identified for the past two decades. The inspecting body has called on the MoD to put measures in place to prevent repeating failures.

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New vision for the college

A new Commanding Officer was employed in July 2020, Lt Col Simon Farebrother MC, with a new vision for the college.

The report added his ethos of “emotional and psychological safety, inclusion and teamwork is firmly embedded” within the college.

He said:

“I’m absolutely delighted, the grade reflects the hard work of my military, civilian and contractor staff at all levels. I’m enormously proud of them, continuing to deliver throughout an extraordinarily challenging period.

“The junior soldiers depart with valuable qualifications, a bunch of new friends and walk into a brilliant career, full of opportunity.”

The inspection was carried out in May 2021.

Harrogate’s Woodfield Community Primary School is taking “effective action” to improve after being placed under special measures by Ofsted.

Ofsted inspectors rated the Bilton primary school as “inadequate” in January last year.

They found children were not attending school, lessons did not “follow a logical sequence” and there was no strategic plan to allocate funds for disadvantaged pupils.

Inspectors recommended that the school be put in special measures as it was “failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education” and added that those responsible for governing the school were not “demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school”.

When a school is placed in special measures it is given an action plan to improve and is inspected regularly by Ofsted to ensure it is improving.

However, officials now say the school is taking action to improve.

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Ofsted visited the school in June and said staff were working well with management to systemically improve.

It added that parents were positive about the school. All those who responded to an Ofsted online questionnaire would recommend the school to other parents.

Woodfield Community Primary School

Mathew Atkinson, executive headteacher at Woodfield, said: 

“There are many things to celebrate in the report: attendance, SEND, behaviour and the curriculum have all improved and we have clear areas to continue to develop. 

“We are taking the right actions towards the removal of special measures and we are looking forward to another great year at Woodfield.”

Jo Marwood, head of school, said:

“We are proud of the report from Her Majesty’s inspectors and it confirms all the hard work that our students, staff, parents and governors put in to making Woodfield such a great school for our community.

“We would like to say thank you for the dedication of staff, the children, parents and governors and the support we have received from the local community.”