BELEAGUERED West Somerset College has been placed in special measures after Government inspectors delivered a damning judgement which revealed it is failing students across the board.

A team from education watchdogs Ofsted, who made a two-day unannounced visit to the college at the beginning of October, has branded it inadequate on every level.

The performance of its leaders, from teachers to governors, is severely criticised, as is the quality of teaching, leaving students of all abilities under-achieving.

The findings of the inspectors have given the college the lowest possible rating for leadership and management, behaviour and safety of pupils, quality of teaching, achievement of pupils and sixth form provision.

In a report published this week but which yesterday (Thursday) had yet to be shared with parents, lead inspector Simon Rowe concluded: "This school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement."

A summary of inspectors' findings revealed:

l Inadequate achievement by students, with GCSE results declining over several years and showing little sign of improvement.

l Teachers' expectations too low.

l Large gaps in students' knowledge due to inadequate teaching, with all year groups under-achieving in a range of subjects, including English and maths.

l Poor support for students with disabilities, special educational needs or disadvantages.

l Insufficient challenges for most able students, who make inadequate progress.

l Inconsistent and often superficial or non-existent marking and feedback to students.

l Learning impeded by persistent low level disruption.

l Inadequate sixth form with too many students dropping out.

l Insufficient monitoring by leaders, leaving them unaware of what is improving and what is getting worse.

l Inadequate governance, with governors failing to respond quickly enough to falling achievement and weak teaching.

The verdict follows a high profile campaign by parents, including the launch of a petition and a demonstration, in the wake of this year's poor GCSE results in which just 38 per cent of students achieved five A* to C grades, including English and maths.

Although this figure has now risen to 42 per cent following a re-moderation of English coursework - slightly above the 40 per cent demanded by the Government - concerns over the poor results led to Ofsted being called in.

It also brought the college, which converted to an academy in June 2011, under the scrutiny of newly-appointed Regional Schools Commissioner for the South West Sir David Carter, who has visited in the last month or so and drafted in education advisors to tackle the problems.

However, the findings of the Ofsted team, while vindicating parents' action - 11 of whom made direct complaints to Ofsted raising serious concerns - could now place a question mark over the future of principal Gaynor Comber, who was appointed in 2012, shortly after the college was rated good in a previous inspection.

Inspectors have concluded that leaders at the college have been too slow in bringing about improvements, with students' achievement and the quality of teaching described as inadequate and showing little sign of improving quickly enough.

"The large majority of parents and carers who responded to the Parent View survey feel the college is not well led and managed," said the report.

"Inspectors agree with this."

It also concluded that the college's self-evaluation was "over-generous", with leaders and governors not having a clear understanding of the college's weaknesses.

Although development plans identified key areas in need of improvement, they did not make clear how leaders would check the progress made towards meeting important targets.

The college has seen a significant turnover of staff over the past year, coupled with the departure of many experienced teachers.

But inspectors have "strongly" recommended that it should not seek to appoint newly-qualified teachers.

Governors were said to be too over-reliant on information from senior leaders and did not have an accurate view of the strengths of the college or areas in need of improvement.

They failed to tackle teachers' under-performance and had no understanding of how Government funding was spent or the impact it was having.

Students' behaviour was also a concern, described as inadequate, with the proportion receiving fixed-term exclusions higher than the national average.

Attendance was below the national average and showed little sign of improvement.

On the positive side, students were found to achieve well in art, textiles and physical education due to good teaching.

The college has been issued with a raft of measures it needs to take to improve its performance.

These range from "quickly" eradicating all inadequate teaching and increasing the amount of good teaching to raising achievement across the college, particularly in English, maths and in the sixth form.

Ofsted have also called for the eradication of poor behaviour and for attendance levels to be raised at least in line with the national average.

And the quality of leadership and management also has to be improved, with more training for senior and middle leaders and more scrutiny.

The report also called for an external review of governance and the use of pupil premium funding for disadvantaged students to assess how the leadership and management of these aspects could be improved.

A spokesman for the campaign group set up to highlight concerns about the college's performance told the Free Press yesterday that she found the judgement deeply depressing.

"It's not what we wanted to hear but at the same time it 's almost what we expected," she said.

"The college is the only choice for the majority of parents in West Somerset.

"It is a positive thing that our concerns have been listened to by outside agencies and that they may be able to bring about some change in the situation.

"But I firmly believe that whoever is at the helm - whether it is the principal or the governors - should be held accountable - that is how leadership works."