School says: '˜We are getting better'

Cathedral Academy was found to have effective leadership and management, good pupil behaviour and even outstanding study programmes for 16 to 19 year-olds when visited by inspectors recently.

However, it was also told that it needed to concentrate on two other key areas- the outcome for pupils and the quality of teaching.

As a result, the Thornes Road school was given an overall mark of ‘requires improvement’, the third consecutive inspection in which the school has been given the unsatisfactory mark.

Headteacher Rob Marsh said that changes are being made, and is confident that will continue.

He said: “I came in five months ago and the school has been working with Trinity Multi-Academy Trust which has allowed us to draw on excellent practice.

“We have been able to make sure everybody is on board for making the changes, results are improving.

“We expect them to even better this year.

“I want to be clear that there are areas of the school that are not yet strong enough but we are addressing them.

“It will be two more years before Ofsted returns and I’m absolutely confident we will achieve a ‘good’ rating by that time.

“As the reports has pointed out, we are making rapid progress.”

The inspectors found there were still variations in the quality of teaching, and said of the pupils: “Their progress varies between subjects and between groups of pupils, so this is why outcomes have not yet reached the point where they can be considered good.”