A school in South Gloucestershire has received its second Ofsted report since the airing of the BBC documentary School.
The six-part series, which went behind the scenes of three secondary schools in Castle School Education Trust (CSET), saw Ofsted put Marlwood School into special measures.
There were also emotional scenes as headteacher James Pope, who had been at the academy for four years, resigned after severe funding pressures.
Deputy head Del Planter stepped up to the top job in September last year.
Since then, Ofsted inspectors have released two monitoring reports, and the latest shows things are continuing to look up for the school.
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Inspectors said: “Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.”
Teaching
Ofsted said the quality of teaching is improving.
They said “standards are beginning to rise in most subjects” and that pupils’ attitudes to learning were also improving.
“They are showing substantially more pride in their work than previously,” they said.
However, inspectors said teachers’ expectations remained too low in a few subjects, such as mathematics.
“Mathematics is a cause for concern,” they said. “Here, teachers are not setting high enough expectations of what pupils can achieve.
“The standards achieved are not good enough. The level of work is not challenging enough.”
Inspectors said the school was now permitted to appoint newly qualified teachers.
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Attendance
Inspectors said attendance was continuing to improve.
“Absence levels are still a little above average, but the figures are distorted by the near total absence of a very small number of pupils," they said.
“The systems to check on attendance are strong with a good level of support for families that face additional barriers in maintaining good attendance.”
Leadership
Inspectors said there had been “significant improvements in virtually all areas of the school” since their last monitoring inspection in November.
“This is very largely the result of the leadership of the headteacher, supported by his senior team and staff.”
Inspectors noted: “Although there has been less staffing turbulence in the last few months than previously, leaders are still wrestling with some issues caused by temporary appointments and the challenges of recruitment.”
Their monitoring inspection took place over two days in March.
It was the fourth since the school was put in special measures following a full Ofsted inspection in May 2017.
