A Southampton prep school which charges parents £15,000 a year failed to properly follow safeguarding procedures, an inspection has found.

The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) criticised The Gregg Preparatory School's safeguarding procedures during a visit in November 2023.

However, leaders at the Portswood school, which costs £15,506 a year for senior pupils, said that the concerns had been addressed before the report had been published.

In the report, inspectors raised concerns about fire safety, risk assessment and governance, as well as leadership and management.

A summary of the inspection findings enclosed within the report found that the school – which teaches pupils aged four to 11 – did not achieve sufficient levels of safeguarding as it had done during a previous visit in 2019.

The report noted: “Governors do not maintain an effective oversight of safeguarding.

“Leaders do not follow appropriate safeguarding procedures with regard to referrals to external agencies and recordkeeping of concerns.

READ MORE: The Bridge Education Centre in Eastleigh learns new Ofsted rating

“Staff do not have an adequate understanding of low-level concerns, and how to respond should they arise.”

However, the ISI inspectors – who evaluated the school’s performance across a three-day period – did note: “Leaders are nevertheless successful in developing the quality of education for pupils.”

Following the publication of the report, a spokesperson for The Gregg Schools Trust, told the Echo: “Following the recent ISI Inspection at The Gregg Prep, we would like to offer some detail regarding a few of the areas.

“Inspection reports are limited in their linguistic freedom, so not always easy to interpret, particularly as the framework by which we were inspected is new and we are one of the first schools to experience it.

“We were very pleased that the inspectors recognised the hard work that has gone into teaching and learning, and the quality of education provided, which resulted in excellent social and economic growth of our pupils here at The Gregg Prep.

“Inspectors were quick to discuss the breadth, expertise and opportunities that our curriculum and enrichment has to offer our young people and how well this promotes their development.”

They went on to say: “However, the report indicates that some of the Inspection Standards were not met, as observed at the time.

“These were relating to procedural/administrative matters and by the time the report was published, we had already rectified these to ensure that we were 100 per cent compliant.”