THE improvement at Tenbury High School has just got better.

After much improved GCSE results in the summer school principal Adrian Price said that he was pleased with the progress made but there was still much work to the done.

However, following a second look at the results the examinations board has improved the English grades for nine students at the school now known as Tenbury High Ormiston Academy.

Following the re-grading 60% of students at Tenbury High School achieved the benchmark of five GCSEs including English and maths. This performance is significantly higher than the national average for all schools in the country of 53%.

The changes in grade were across the ability range and Mr Price said that it meant that the young people got the rewards that their efforts deserved.

“It is not uncommon for schools to ask examination boards to take a second look and there were a number of English papers where we did not feel that the grades were quite right,” said Mr Price, who says that he prefers to be thought of as the head teacher.

The school has also seen a number of changes of staff with new teachers joining.

Among them is the arrival of Viki Dean who has come to work at Tenbury High from a school in Bridgnorth to take on the role of assistant principal which puts her third in the school’s hierarchy.

It also means a return to her home area as she has previously worked at Ludlow School and now lives in Clifton-on-Teme.

She is an English teacher and will spend two days a week in the classroom but will not be head of department.

Her other duties will include monitoring progress, mentoring and supporting other teachers and the training of staff.

Mr Price said that the performance of pupils had improved well ahead of the national average but he added that the important thing was for the improvement to be sustained and that what had been achieved so far was only a foundation to build upon.

“We have come a long way but we are determined not to be complacent and will not rest until the school is outstanding and beyond,” he added.

The former high school took a major blow at the end of last year when following an inspection by education watchdog Ofsted it was placed into special measures as a result of inconsistent exam results particularly in English.

But the results released in August saw substantial improvements and the re-grading of the English papers makes the performance even better.

Mr Price said that with the latest set of results there would have been no question of the school being in special measures and that was something that belongs in the past.

On taking over at the school last September he said that the focus for staff had to be to ‘make the main thing the main thing’ by which he meant teaching standards.

However, Mr Price says that he is determined that this should not be at the expense of a caring environment with strong links with the local community and the town.