A SECONDARY school headteacher said staff will continue to work hard to ensure pupils achieve the best grades after a disappointing Ofsted report.

Lady Hawkins' High School in Kington received an overall rating of 'requires improvement' judgement following the inspection in November.

The school was rated in five sections and received 'good' in three and 'requires improvement' in the other two.

Acting headteacher, Jeff Kay, who has been there since September said, although disappointed by the overall grade, he is pleased with the positive comments and the recognised improvements since the last report in 2013, which also resulted in a rating of 'requires improvement.'

Mr Kay said: "Our aim now is to continue to work hard to ensure that every student achieves the very best grades that they are capable of, while enjoying school and developing the social and personal skills to help them become successful adults.

"Lady Hawkins’ School staff and students are to be congratulated on all their hard work and commitment. ”

The report said effectiveness of leadership and management and outcomes for pupils needed improvement, but also recognised the strengths and improvements.

The new leadership from September has renewed the focus on improving the documentation and structures of governance and leadership discussed in the Ofsted report, as well as working with staff to further improve outcomes for some groups of students.

It said the most-able made good progress but disadvantaged, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs only made expected progress, although it was recognised that achievement was rising.

It also said teachers do not always use the information gathered on pupils’ progress and attainment to adapt the work in lessons in line with their ability levels; and senior leaders’ systems for monitoring teachers’ performance are not sufficiently rigorous.

But the school, which has 330 pupils, achieved a judgement of 'good' in quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare of students; and 16 to 19 study programmes (sixth form).

Mr Kay added: “We are delighted that the inspection has highlighted so many of the things that are good about Lady Hawkins’ School, particularly given that the framework is so much more demanding than previous ones.

"The main result, the number of students achieving five GCSEs or more, including English and maths, at grade C or above continues to be above the national average."

There were 58 percent of pupils in 2015, and the national average is 57.1 per cent.

He said 41 percent of students also gained the English Baccalaureate, which is significantly above the national average of 24.3 percent.