Second time school told it must get better

Inspectors heavily criticised the quality of most teaching at the school, saying it is not challenging enough and the work set does not meet the needs of pupils’ varying abilities.

The report added: “Not all teachers are held rigorously to account by leaders for pupils’ learning and progress.” But the early years provision was rated as ‘good.’ The report stated: “Early years’ provision is good. Children make good progress from their starting points and learn to co-operate effectively both indoors and outdoors.”

Earlier this year, the Department for Education also identified the community school as having ‘coasted’ through 2014-2016 based on performance data.

The Almondbury school, which refers a small numbers of pupils to Ethos College and Brian Jackson College, received the exact same Ofsted rating in 2015.

But the new school, which had only opened in 2014, got off to a challenging start as an administrative error led to the inspection coming too early.

‘Requires improvement’ is just one grade above ‘inadequate’ which would have placed the school into special measures.

Since the previous inspection there have been widespread changes in staffing and the governing body.

Headteacher Trevor Bowens said: “The Ofsted team recognised the huge progress the school has made since the previous inspection.

“All the plans for the school to improve are already in place and the work will continue.

“The goal is to improve the quality of teaching across all year groups. We need to ensure that there is consistency in all groups – that’s what we will focus on.”