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Pupils felt "very worried" attending a school where behaviour was "unruly, unkind and unsafe", inspectors found.

The Oxford Academy, in Littlemore, Oxford, could soon be taken over by another academy chain after it was rated inadequate by Ofsted.

Senior staff "missed signs" that showed pupils were at risk and teaching left children "not prepared well enough for life in modern Britain."

The findings were made during an inspection in November.

Inspectors said pupils were "scared to use communal areas", while bad behaviour "disrupted daily life" at the secondary school.

Leaders were said to be "hugely overstretched" and did not have a "precise understanding of the serious scale" of poor behaviour, a report released on Friday said.

The Oxford Diocesan Board of Education, which is one of the school's three sponsors, said the River Learning Trust has agreed in principle to take it into its multi-academy trust.

The River Learning Trust operates a number of other schools across Oxfordshire and Wiltshire.

A new head teacher, David Terry, was appointed this month after the head teacher at the time of the inspection, Andy Hardy, left on 31 December.

Tony Wilson, the Oxford Diocesan Board of Education's director of education, said: "Immediate action was taken last year in response to the concerns identified by Ofsted, and we have already carried out a thorough review of safeguarding."

Ofsted said communication between the school and outside agencies was "poor".

Oxfordshire County Council said it "acted immediately" when it was notified of safeguarding concerns in November.

A spokesman said: "As the school is an academy, the county council has no direct responsibility for school performance.

"We believe the former school leaders and governors of the school are accountable for the findings in the Ofsted report.

"The council and the new school leadership are all determined that necessary improvements will be made quickly."