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A West London school that takes in pupils who have been excluded has been placed in special measures by Ofsted over concerns children are being put "at risk of significant harm".
The Skills Hub on Falling Lane in Yiewsley, West Drayton was visited by inspectors in December 2025 following safeguarding complaints. His Majesty's Chief Inspector concluded that the school is failing to provide an acceptable standard of education.
The inspector went further as to say the leadership does not demonstrate the capacity to make the necessary improvements, and as a result recommended that the school does not appoint any early career teachers. Mr Craig Van-de-Velde is the school's current Interim Head, who took over just weeks before this inspection.
The school currently has 50 pupils ranging from four to 18 years old. Almost a third of the students attending The Skills Hub have special educational needs.
The Skills Hub is part of Orchard Hill College Academy Trust which operates colleges in Camberwell, Bermondsey, Sutton, Uxbridge and Wandsworth. The trust also operates schools in Croydon, Kingston and Tooting.
The Ofsted inspection found that safeguarding at The Skills Hub is significantly flawed. The scathing report detailed that "leaders have not ensured that there is an open and positive culture around safeguarding… this puts pupils at risk of significant harm".
The report highlights that there have been serious safeguarding failures and that staff do not raise concerns about the conduct of others quickly enough. At the time the education watchdog visited the school, authorities were actively investigating "serious allegations of a child protection nature".
Pupils at the school are not routinely taught information about how to keep themselves safe, including topics such as healthy relationships and personal safety. Whilst leaders have become aware of these shortcomings, and are now addressing them, "time is needed" to ensure that an open safeguarding culture is embedded, according to Ofsted.
On the curriculum, teaching and achievement, the school urgently needs improvement. According to the report, the quality of education has largely diminished due to a "turbulent period" marked by recruitment challenges.
Many teachers are taking lessons outside their own subject, and because they lack the specialist knowledge, there is "too much" focus on activities that do not benefit pupils' knowledge.
The school has a notably high absence rate of 39.9 per cent - 33 per cent higher than the national average. The report notes that leaders lack procedures to monitor absence and do not have the capacity to effectively challenge the reasons students are not attending.
Pupil behaviour is also not managed well, described as often disruptive and negatively impacting the learning of well-behaved students. Staff lack the capacity to enforce high expectations on behaviour, meaning issues of students using derogatory language goes unaddressed.
On a separate and more positive note, bullying is not tolerated, and pupils trust the school to deal with those incidents effectively. Pupils are also said to highly value their assigned 'skill coaches', and say they are mostly happy to attend the school.
The Ofsted report outlines that leaders, governors, and trustees acknowledge the decline in standards, oversight and failure to safeguard pupils. Despite using external experts to figure out where policies must improve, no plan for change is in place.
The school will now be put into special measures. This means the school will be subject to future monitoring inspections, where Ofsted will check progress and reconsider restrictions such as the hiring of new teachers.
Ian Valvona, Interim CEO of Orchard Hill College Academy Trust, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We accept the findings of this report from Ofsted. Our priority is to ensure that the concerns identified by Ofsted are addressed as quickly as possible to ensure students are safe, and that we are providing a high quality of education and care at The Skills Hub.
"As part of this work, we are rapidly reviewing safeguarding and curriculum processes and practices at The Skills Hub and have developed a Post-Inspection Action Plan. We have also introduced additional, experienced colleagues to help us drive improvement including the appointment of Craig Ven-de-Velde as Interim Head of The Skills Hub.
"Craig brings significant experience in education leadership and will work with staff, governors and external professionals to ensure sustainable improvement is made."
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