THE future of a free school set up by Bolton Wanderers Football Club is ‘under serious threat’ after it was rated inadequate in all areas by Ofsted inspectors.

A damning report has criticised all aspects of the school and highlighted a ‘culture of low aspirations’ which has resulted in too many students making poor progress.

The watchdog also said students lack understanding of the dangers of radicalisation and extremism and said both staff and students lack awareness of the risks associated with forced marriages and female genital mutilation.

Perhaps most worrying for school bosses is the assessment that a “failure to recruit sufficient numbers of students over the past three years has led to serious financial difficulty for the school”.

Bosses said they have now begun a “full root and branch review” of the leadership and operation at the establishment.

The school currently has just 95 students on its books, less than half of the 200 which was recommended in its first year — this is despite inspectors stating that management has been able to achieve a ‘significant increase’ in students in the current year.

The blame for low pupil figures was laid at the door of managers and Ofsted said a failure to meet recruitment targets over the past three years means that the “financial future of the school is under serious threat”.

The inspection took place at the school — currently based in the East Stand of the Macron Stadium — between September 19 and 21 and comes after a monitoring report in January told principal Toni Carr and other leaders to raise standards.

Instead, the full report has found the school to be inadequate in all areas — including effectiveness of leadership, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, personal development, behaviour and outcomes for its students.

Wanderers opened the 16-19 school in its temporary home inside the Macron in September 2014, with the plan to move into a purpose-built development with room for 400 students.

It formed part of an overall £100 million ‘Middlebrook Masterplan’ which also included plans for apartments, a hotel and offices.

Earlier this year, Ms Carr said the plan is for the new building, which will be based between Bolton Arena and Horwich Police Station, to open next year.

While the school was launched by the club, The Bolton News understands it is now run independently following the change of ownership at Whites earlier this year.

On launching, school bosses said they wanted to offer young people specific training in sports studies, health and social care, later adding public services to its curriculum with an ethos aimed at developing the skills, confidence and qualifications of all young people — including disadvantaged youngsters.

And Ofsted did find that most students are completing their courses and passing vocational qualifications.

However, inspectors said the requirements of the 16 to 19 study programme are not being met and criticised a lack of work experience opportunities — with most of the small number of placements offered taking place at the Macron.

The report states: “A culture of low aspirations results in too many students making poor progress.

“Many students do not achieve high grades because too much teaching fails to challenge and inspire them and insufficient attention is paid to English and maths skills by teachers.”

Teachers are criticised for setting targets that are “neither aspirational nor specific enough” with reports of staff frequently asking questions and answering themselves before students are given chance.

School governors are also in the firing line — despite being ‘wholly committed’ to the school, they are said to be failing to hold leadership to account and only met twice last year.

On safeguarding, although a personal development plan followed by all students was found to raise awareness of issues such as radicalisation and extremism, students were found to lack understanding of the subjects.

The report also states that “Staff and students do not have sufficient awareness of risks associated with forced marriages or female genital mutilation.”

But the students were found to be benefiting from good pastoral support in dealing with a range of personal issues.

Dr Zubair Hanslot, provost of the University of Bolton, has now been parachuted in as the new chair of governors to help turn around the troubled school’s fortunes.

He said: “The School and the Board of Governors are disappointed in the findings by Ofsted, however, their judgement in all areas of Bolton Wanderers Free School is accepted.

“The report has highlighted an urgent need for a full root and branch review of the school’s leadership and operation, which has now commenced.

“The University of Bolton, in line with government policy of encouraging universities to help failing schools, has now taken an interest in supporting the school.

“We are currently making changes in how the school is governed and we are analysing the alterations needed in the leadership roles to protect and secure the education of the young people currently enrolled at BWFS.

“Our aim is to provide the school with the scope for rapid and sustained improvements and, to this end, we have swiftly taken action in order to help the School to recover and make the required alterations.”