Bishop's Castle Community College out of special measures

Staff and pupils at a south Shropshire secondary school were celebrating today after it was taken out of special measures following a successful Ofsted inspection.

Bishop's Castle Community College was visited by inspectors last week, who have since praised the school for its focus on environmental issues and challenging targets set for students and declared it as satisfactory.

The news was formally revealed at a meeting of the school's governing body last night and staff have pledged to do more to raise standards.

An action plan has been drawn up for the next academic year, including developing a teaching and lear- ning charter, reinforcing changes to the student leadership structure, phasing in a new uniform and revamping the website.

The school was served with a notice to improve by Ofsted inspectors in May last year, which placed it in special measures meaning certain parts of it needed to be improved urgently.

But inspectors noticed considerable improvements during a follow-up inspection in December and have since seen further progress during last week's inspection.

Much of the improvement work was carried out by former acting head Sarah Godden and has been carried on by her successor Alan Doust, who was appointed permanent head earlier this year.

Mr Doust said: "We are delighted with the outcome of the inspection. There is still much we want to do, but everyone at the community college is committed to continue to work hard to improve our offer."

He added: "We are looking forward to working closely with our community to make the college the best it can be."