JOHN Kyrle High School and Sixth Form Centre Academy has dropped a grade in its latest Ofsted report.

The Ross-on-Wye school was this year classed as “good”, having previously been rated “outstanding”.

Inspector Mark Sims said John Kyrle did not achieve the top grade this year because some students who are still behind with reading and numeracy skills at the start of year seven have not made enough progress in order to reach the expected level for their age by the end of year 11.

However, Mr Sims did note that the proportion of students gaining five or more A* to C grades in their GCSEs has increased since the last inspection and is above the national average.

And he went on to describe the sixth form as “outstanding” due to its rapidly improving courses.

Mr Sims added that leadership is highly effective and the school has made a number of improvements in ensuring that teaching is always, at least, consistently good and often outstanding.

The inspector said that there was some “variability” in the quality of French and Spanish teaching but that the younger students recently showed they have a passion for languages.