Pupils at an independent school are “not safe” according to a recent Ofsted report.

Inspectors from the government body found “serious weaknesses” in safeguarding management at the Rudolf Steiner School Kings Langley (RSSKL), on Langley Hill, when they visited on November 2.

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Publishing their report on December 9, Ofsted inspectors said that staff often had no idea where some of their students’ were as they were able to sign out without needing to state where they were going.

The school received 39 complaints from parents in the school year ending in July, several of them related to safeguarding. This, inspectors said, reflected “a high level of dissatisfaction and concern” about the school’s management of safeguarding.

It was also found that allegations were not being investigated as a priority, a worrying revelation considering “serious allegations of a child protection nature” are currently being probed by the authorities.

In December last year, a teacher was suspended for exhibiting “inappropriate behaviour”. The school completed a full investigation and the teacher was reinstated to their former position.

Inspectors said important standards at the school were consistently not being met, despite the “good intentions” of the newly formed management team.

Richard Moore, chair of trustees at RSSKL, said the report was “very disappointing” and added that a “comprehensive action plan” had been written in response to the inspection findings.

Lead inspector Linda Killman said: “They say that they (the pupils) are safe but they are not because of flaws in the school’s systems and procedures for safeguarding and child protection.”

Record keeping of important and sensitive information was also found to be “extremely weak”, making vital information difficult to retrieve.

However she added the school had shown signs of improvement since the last inspection in June.

School spokesman Jon Perks said: “Safeguarding is an issue at every school in the country, and one that we take very seriously – the welfare, health and safety of pupils is the number one priority of all the staff and trustees. Pupils themselves reported to inspectors that they feel safe in the school and confident in their teachers.

“Since the first inspection in June, good progress has been made to address issues raised. However, an interval of eight school weeks between inspections does not give enough time for training and the implementation in some aspects of our improvement plan, nor time to gather of evidence to demonstrate all that has been done. The inspectors were aware of this fact.”

Fees at the school, where a third of pupils are identified as having special educational needs or disabilities, can reach £9,500 per year.