By Alan Irving

Last updated 09:51, Thursday, 03 July 2008

OFSTED inspectors have ruled that standards have been raised at Whitehaven School, six months after pupils were told many of them were not being given “an effective education”.

After a monitoring inspection last month, Ofsted inspector Pat Kime says: “Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time the school is making satisfactory progress in addressing the issues and raising the pupils achievements.

“There was a slow start to the work to tackle its weaknesses but the pace of improvement has now picked up and, taken overall, since November 2007 progress has been satisfactory on all the issues.

“Alongside its drive to raise achievement through improved teaching, the school has put a range of interventions in place which are aimed at raising pupils achievements, particularly in the core subjects.”

The report says that identification of students with learning difficulties or disabilities had improved and their needs reviewed.

Other positive comments from the inspector are:

“More sharply focussed individual education plans are being produced for those who continue to need support beyond what should be provided in normal class lessons.

“The overall quality of teaching has improved.

“ There have been some staff changes and a significant reduction in the proportion of teaching that is inadequate.

“ The school’s monitoring of lessons shows an increasing proportion that are of a good quality. Students have noticed many improvements in lessons in recent months.”

As revealed in last week’s Whitehaven News, Copeland MP Jamie Reed has secured £30 million of government investment for a proposed Whitehaven Academy to be built on the site of the existing school.