A Muslim girls' school has received the lowest Ofsted rating available after inspectors discovered that pupils were not provided with lavatory paper for "cultural reasons".

Staff at the fee-paying Park Avenue Girls' High School, in Stoke-on-Trent, said paper was available from the school office, but because most of the students were Asian, they preferred to wash rather than wipe.

But some of the girls told inspectors they were so unhappy about the situation that they avoided using the lavatory all day.

The school, which was visited by inspectors October, was rated "inadequate", with the report identifying a range of concerns, including safeguarding problems and the discovery of sectarian material on the premises.

The Ofsted report stated: "At the time of the inspection, it was not the school's common practice to provide soap for pupils' hand-washing, toilet roll in the toilets or suitable drinking water.

"Toilet paper is available from the school office when pupils request it. Pupils told inspectors that they sometimes avoided using toilets for the whole school day because of this."

But headteacher Abdul Ghafoor Salloo defended the policy, insisting the school catered for the cultural needs of the pupils.