A school has been warned that funding could be withdrawn after reports of bullying and homophobic behavior among students.
The Department of Education (DfE) handed the alert to Ark Kings Academy in Birmingham following an Ofsted inspection earlier this year.
The Ofsted report found that secondary school students did not feel safe while “bullying, derogatory language and homophobic behavior are commonplace”.
A spokesman for the academy said it was looking into the issues raised.
The school was rated “inadequate” in almost all categories, including leadership, conduct, personal development and quality of education.
The official termination warning to the school cited a number of issues which were addressed by Ofsted in the decision to potentially cut funding.
Ark Kings Academy is operated by Ark Schools, one of the largest academy chains in the country, which operates a total of 39 schools.
The Ofsted report, released this month following an inspection in February, says: “Some students, particularly those who identify as LGBT, experience repeated abuse and prejudice. This means that students do not feel safe in school.”
The students did not treat each other with respect and some “feel that they have to tolerate the frequent sexual harassment”.
Ofsted said students had “no confidence” that staff would support them if they raised concerns.
The report also found that students with special educational needs and disabilities with a “high and increasing” number of suspensions were also more likely to receive sanctions than their peers.
In his formal warning to the school, Regional Schools Commissioner Andrew Warren said he “must be satisfied that the Trust is able to make rapid and sustained improvements”.
“If I am not satisfied that this can be accomplished, I will consider terminating the funding agreement to transfer the academy to an alternative academy trust,” he wrote.
In response, an Ark spokesman said: “While we are very disappointed with the inspection verdict, we fully accept the findings of the inspection report.
“We had identified many of the issues before the inspection and took steps to address them before the inspection.”
The school said work has picked up speed and is “very confident that the school will improve rapidly in the coming months”.
It said it had appointed an executive director and a new secondary director to lead the work.
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