School inspectors in 'racism' storm

School inspectors are today at the centre of an extraordinary row after being accused of making racist remarks at a London primary school.

An official investigation has been launched following the incident at Woodberry Down Primary School in Hackney.

Governors complained after one inspector, commenting on a pupil who had been excluded, allegedly said: "Let me guess, this is a boy... African... they always are."

Inspectors employed by Ofsted contractor Bench Marque Ltd, based in Somerset also allegedly said that they "only had white faces" where they lived and found it hard to distinguish between black boys and girls.

One inspector is alleged to have said: "Have you noticed the white children trying to walk like the black children?" while another asked: "Is there a Turkish enclave in the school?"

The inspection concluded that the school had "serious weaknesses" - only one step away from damned as "failing" - despite exam results that are well above the local average and improving.

Today teachers' leaders said the alleged comments, and the inspectors' conclusion, cast fresh doubt on the credibility of the private companies employed by Ofsted to make judgments about thousands of schools.

A spokesman for the Hackney branch of the National Union of Teachers, Mark Lushington, said: "If a doctor had committed a professional outrage of equivalent seriousness, they would be struck off."

Doug McAvoy, the union's general secretary, said: "If these comments were made by Ofsted inspectors, they are totally unacceptable. Ofsted inspectors go to schools to make judgments on the quality of the education being provided. They have no business making disparaging comments about pupils from whatever background."

Ofsted refused to comment while the matter was under investigation. But school governors have also complained to the Commission for Racial Equality, which has promised to investigate.

In its complaint, the governors cite other alleged gaffes which they say cast doubt on inspectors' conclusions. One allegedly admitted inconsistencies among his colleagues' judgments on the school.

Another thought nothing of telling the head, Greg Wallace, that every inner-city school he had inspected had been "failed".

Woodberry Down Primary School is the result of an amalgamation two years ago between infant and junior schools, both of which had serious problems, sources at the new school freely admit.

But in the past two years the school, under a new head, has made enormous strides despite enormous disadvantages. More than half of the pupils come from families poor enough to qualify for free school meals and more than six out of 10 do not speak English as a first language.

They come from 20 different ethnic backgrounds. The inspectors' alleged comments are said to have left teachers "severely shocked".

Governors' chairman Peter Passam said today: "We have made an official complaint and we cannot say anything until that procedure has been completed." Bench Marque refused to make an official comment.