St Ivo School has been graded as “good with outstanding features” following an inspection by Ofsted.

MAKING THE GRADE: St Ivo School has been graded as “good with outstanding features” following an inspection by Ofsted.

The school was graded as outstanding in 15 areas, almost half of all grades given. The report stated that “the school has made rapid and sustained improvement since the last inspection” and was very complimentary about students.

Inspectors gave the school a grade two for overall effectiveness – a school with very positive features that is serving its pupils well.

Headteacher Howard Gilbert said: “I am pleased that this report recognises the improvement in the school and the high quality work of our staff and students and I am delighted with the number of outstanding grades achieved by the school.

“It is also pleasing that the inspectors felt that ‘teachers have high expectations of what students will achieve and set suitably challenging work’.

“The school was very close to being graded ‘outstanding’ overall and our task now is to improve consistency further across the school.”

The school’s many strengths included the sixth form, good progress and the high standards achieved at GCSE, high levels of attendance, positive attitudes to learning and the ‘impressive contribution that so many of the staff and pupils make to the school and its wider community’.

Inspectors observed 58 lessons and 57 teachers.

To improve further the report recommended that staff make better use of assessment and marking to guide their improvement.

They also urged the school, which has 1,813 pupils aged 11-18, to ensure that agreed whole-school strategies, such as behaviour management, were consistently applied.