Ofsted damns school that focuses on the three Rs

It is a small London junior school with an enviable reputation for excellence.

Parents like the traditional academic education at Charterhouse Square School in the Barbican and say their children love going there.

But a damning report by government inspectors claims the school is failing to provide a proper education because it makes too much of the three Rs. Education watchdog Ofsted's verdict that pupils are not encouraged to be "creative" has sparked fury among affluent Islington parents. Former chief inspector of schools Chris Woodhead said the row showed why Ofsted should be stripped of powers to inspect private schools.

Charterhouse Square's founder and headmistress Jamie Malden said Ofsted's verdict saw places fall vacant for the first time in the school's history. She considered suing Ofsted after it ruled that her school's curriculum broke the law.

Laws governing what private schools ought to teach were passed two years ago. The Government gave Ofsted the power to make sure their requirements were obeyed. Mrs Malden said she phoned the Department for Education and Skills to complain and was told that, if she failed to make the changes Ofsted ordered, her school would be closed.

Ofsted's report admitted that Charterhouse Square, which has about 160 children aged four to 11, was very successful in getting pupils ready for demanding entrance exams for top prep schools. Results in national SATs tests taken at age 11 eclipse those at the majority of state primaries.

But inspectors said the focus on maths and English squeezed creativity out of the curriculum, and the teaching was "mostly instructional and lacks inspiration".

Mrs Malden said eight out of 26 places in the school's first-year class were vacant this September and Ofsted was to blame, adding: "We are supposed to live in a democratic society, yet the Government are increasingly telling people how to live their lives."

Many parents were keen to stress they were keeping their children at Charterhouse. Dr Jane Setterfield, whose six-year-old son George has

been at Charterhouse Square School for three years, said: "It has a fairly traditional, structured approach which we feel provides an excellent grounding."

Timothy Blair, a company director from Islington, has a son Joshua, five, at the school. He said: "You just need to look at the results to see it's working." Professor Woodhead said: "A school that is achieving high SATs results, is sending children to highly selective, prestigious London schools and is satisfying its parental community isn't, in my view, a failing school."

An Ofsted spokeswoman said: "All independent schools of whatever size and type must comply with national minimum standards set by the DfES."