STAFF and pupils at a Worcester secondary school are celebrating a positive Ofsted report after previously being placed in special measures.

Bishop Perowne CE College has been rated as 'good' – the second highest grade – overall by Ofsted following an inspection last month.

This follows the Merrimans Hill Road school being placed in special measures in February last year after an inadequate rating from inspectors.

Headteacher Mark Pollard said: “Everyone at Bishop Perowne is delighted at being rated as a good school. We were confident that the changes we were implementing at the time of our previous inspection would be transformative, and the rapid improvement is testament to how all staff, students, governors and parents have worked together to achieve the best for our students.

“As in all reports, Ofsted has made suggestions about areas that can be developed further, and we are all committed to ensuring every Bishop Perowne student receives a high standard of education.”

Inspectors visited the school on October 16 and 17 and said significant improvement had been made in the school’s leadership, teaching, personal development and outcomes for pupils.

The report stated: “Since 2017, leaders have improved every aspect of the school.

“They have ensured that the curriculum is appropriate, flexible and meets pupils’ needs.

“The school is now a calm and purposeful place. Pupils are consistently respectful to one another and staff.

“Provision for groups who have previously underachieved has improved.

“As a result, disadvantaged pupils, those with low prior attainment and those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities has improved.”

As a result of this, inspectors were satisfied that the school no longer required special measures.

The inspection did find that literacy and numeracy teaching in tutorial time was not as effective as it could be and that too few pupils who attend alternative provision are integrated back into school.

The final recommendations in the report were to increase the proportion of pupils attending alternative provision who are re-integrated back into school, continue to improve disadvantaged pupils’ progress in mathematics, improve the teaching of literacy and numeracy in form time by ensuring that non-specialist teachers have the skills to pitch tasks to pupils’ needs, as well as monitoring the impact of these sessions on pupils’ literacy and numeracy.