Last updated at 12:53, Thursday, 03 January 2013

A SCHOOL which was ordered to improve has been praised for the changes it has made.

Whitehaven School was given a “notice to improve” by Ofsted nine months ago.

Ofsted’s latest findings were made public last week.

They state that the school, which has 1,100 pupils, is making “satisfactory progress” in addressing the issues that needed improved and raising pupils’ improvement.

The school was given the notice to improve in March after three out of the five areas covered in an inspection report were deemed inadequate and two were satisfactory.

In a letter to headteacher Lynette Norris, Ofsted inspector Gillian Salter-Smith praised the quality of staffing at the Cleator Moor Road school which has been “strengthened considerably”.

She also said that the headteacher, senior leaders and the governing body are strongly focused on improving teaching and raising achievement.

Systems to check on the quality of teachers’ performance are far more rigorous and training and support for teaching are better focused on the priorities for the school, she added.

And the report says that students’ achievement is improving – but not “consistently across all subjects”.

Achievement in sixth form, learning and progress in lessons and the quality of teaching were all said to be improving, as well as teachers’ expectations of students getting better through the use of more challenging academic targets.

Chair of governors Thelma Toman said: “We are, of course, delighted with the outcome of the monitoring visit, which acknowledges and validates all the effective hard work put in by the staff at Whitehaven School.

“My thanks go particularly to the leadership team and all the staff who have worked so hard to achieve this result.

“Our last academic results were our best ever and we look forward to building on these in the future.”

First published at 10:58, Thursday, 03 January 2013
Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk