SECURITY FAILURES AT TOP SCHOOL

Inspectors find standards are not met

- By EDWARD BARNES

SECURITY concerns including an unlocked gate were found at a Wirral private school that charges parents up to £17,328 a year to send their kids, a new report has found.

Birkenhead School, based on Beresford Road in Oxton, is an independent fee-paying school and one of the leading schools in the Merseyside area having been named the Sunday Times top independent secondary school for the North West region this year.

The school has a capacity of 1,050 pupils taking children from nursery to sixth form. While very positive about many areas of the school, an inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate between April 1 and 3 raised security concerns and said the school had failed two key standards.