A HIGH-profile international college in Malvern does not properly ensure the welfare and safety of its pupils, an Ofsted inspection has found.

The £20,000-a-year Abbey International College in Malvern Wells says it has already taken action to address the shortcomings that saw a government inspector label its safeguarding of pupils and boarding provision “inadequate”.

While praising the quality of education at the college and the results that pupils achieve, inspector Daniel Towl found not all staff were being adequately checked out before being allowed to work unsupervised with pupils.

“Arrangements to ensure the welfare, health and safety of pupils are inadequate,” he said. “There are shortfalls in vetting procedures for adults who have unsupervised access to students and also weaknesses in the maintenance of premises and there are inadequate security arrangements.

“This means not all minimum standards are met and the safety and welfare of students cannot be assured.” He also found national safeguarding guidelines were “not satisfactorily implemented” and that “day-to-day attention to health and safety matters is not robust enough”.

Some security measures were also found to be inadequate and concerns were raised over the monitoring of visitors and younger pupils who leave the premises after school. Headteacher Philip Moere said the numerous failings identified in the report came down to a few common factors that have already been set right since the inspection late last year.

He said it had been college policy when employing foreign nationals to get police checks from their own countries, rather than the standard UK CRB check. “We misread the guidance and previous inspections had never picked up that there was a problem,” he said. “It is something that was rectified within a week of the inspection.”

An action plan had been sent to Ofsted and he hoped the school would be inspected again soon. “We would like to have a clean bill of health,” he said.