SCHOOLS across Bromsgrove and Redditch have been fired an ominous warning over child protection - with the risk of 'inadequate' gradings if they fail safeguarding standards.

Ofsted is now operating a tougher inspection regime which puts a heavy responsibility on schools to keep pupils safe.

It means even schools considered outstanding for their education will be graded as failures overall unless their safeguarding procedures are spot on.

Worcestershire County Council says it has alerted "all schools" to the issue, urging them to ensure their relevant policies and paperwork is correct.

It follows serious criticism from a former County Hall chairman, Councillor Tony Miller, who has taken a swipe at Ofsted, saying the system is "unfair" and is wasting public money.

Back in January the council's own children's services department was graded 'inadequate' by Ofsted in a highly-critical verdict.

Councillor Marc Bayliss, the cabinet member for children and families, has warned schools that their own safeguarding procedures will be a "limiting factor" in future inspections.

The Conservative, who is stepping down at County Hall next month, also says he knows of examples where schools have fallen down because of it.

"Ofsted inspections of schools are paying particular attention to ensuring the safeguarding arrangements are strong and robust," he said.

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"We've noted this and we've alerted all our schools, maintained and academies, to tell them they need to make absolutely sure they are discharging their responsibilities around safeguarding.

"There has been at least one or two examples of schools who, quite rightly, think they are 'good' or 'outstanding' in terms of progress and attainment, and think Ofsted will give them a high grading as a result of that, but this is one of those 'limiting factors'.

"If you fail at safeguarding, you are 'inadequate' whatever you achieve in terms of attainment - the message needs to go out."

But there are concerns around Ofsted's tactics, with some schools having to trawl back through years of records to satisfy inspectors.

Councillor Miller, a backbencher, said he is worried it may give the public "a wrong impression" when schools fail overall purely down to safeguarding procedures.

He said: "When schools are having to go back 15 years, looking for references from that time period when no incident has taken place, it seems a waste of very valuable resources.

"It's not a fair process."