The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) has criticised The Gregg Preparatory School in Southampton over safeguarding procedures following a visit in November, Yahoo News has reported.

The Gregg Preparatory School teaches pupils aged four to 11. It is co-educational and includes April House Nursery School.

ISI inspectors raised concerns about fire safety, risk assessment and governance, and leadership and management.

However, school leaders said that the concerns were addressed before the report was published.

The report stated: “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.

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

The report did however note: “Leaders are nevertheless successful in developing the quality of education for pupils.”

A spokesperson for The Gregg Schools Trust, told the Southern Daily 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.”

“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% compliant.”