Ofsted wasted two days and taxpayers money on a "baffling" two-day inspection of a school that was due to close permanently in just a few weeks.
Fresh from the row over its manic reversal of opinion of the "Trojan Horse" Birmingham schools from "outstanding" to "failing" in the wake of an alleged "Islamist takeover plot", the schools watchdog is yet again having its priorities questioned.
Ofsted inspectors visited Beford's Harrowden Middle School last week even though Bedford Borough Council said the school had told the regulator it was due to close, the BBC reported.
Ofsted, which would not reveal to the broadcaster how much the inspection cost, said: "Schools can apply to defer or cancel their inspection if it is due to close. In relation to this school, Ofsted did not receive an application to cancel its inspection."
One anonymous member of staff told the Mirror: “The school will not even exist by the time the report comes out. This was a ridiculous waste of time and money. It was more unnecessary stress and effort for the staff.”
Lib Dem MP David Ward, a member of the Commons education select committee, told the paper: “This seems bonkers – an enormous waste of public money.
“You would have thought that even if someone somewhere made a mistake, they would have realised immediately and gone back to the office.”
The school, deemed "good" at its last inspection has dramatically improved in recent years but is being closed because of a re-dsitrubution of local resources, with pupils placed in other local schools.