AN IMPROVING Kington school has received a 'good' overall rating from inspectors.

Lady Hawkins’ School was told it 'required improvement' during the last two Ofsted inspections, however it has now improved to 'good' in all of the key areas following an inspection last month.

Martin Spoor, lead inspector, assessed the school in: effectiveness of leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare; and outcomes for pupils- all of which received a 'good rating'

He concluded: "Teaching is good, and improving rapidly in English. Teachers have strong subject knowledge and set high expectations for their pupils. Inspectors saw many less-able pupils learning particularly well.

"Year 11 pupils left in 2017 having made average progress overall. However, progress is accelerating so that it is now strong across the school.

"Standards in humanities and modern foreign languages are high. Despite the restrictions presented by small year groups, leaders have implemented a balanced curriculum. A wide variety of clubs and trips makes a strong contribution to many pupils’ learning."

In the report the school was advised that to improve further it would need to: "make sure that teachers consistently set work for the most able which provides an appropriately stiff level of challenge; ensuring that pupils make good use of the school’s new procedures for feedback to improve their work; providing regular opportunities for pupils to develop their ability to reason mathematically."

Also that assessment procedures are refined and the quality of smaller subjects is monitored so that the teaching and pupils’ progress are consistently good.

"As headteacher, it was a real privilege to see how well Lady Hawkins’ School performed under Ofsted’s intense scrutiny and I was very proud listening to the feedback from the inspectors," said headteacher Paul Jennings.

"The feedback also reflected how well we have pulled together as a whole school community since the previous inspection.

"I am delighted to be able to announce that Lady Hawkins’ School was rated as ‘good’, showing significant improvements since the last two inspections in which we were graded as ‘requires improvement’.

"The report, as I hope you will see, reads very well with all four assessed areas being rated as good, which is a tremendous result. It is a strong report and, reassuringly, the only areas for further improvement are areas that we were aware of before the inspection and were already working to address, the actions just need more time to embed fully.

"One of our greatest assets is our students and the lead inspector described them as 'delightful' during one meeting, the report going on to say that behaviour, standards of uniform and outcomes are good and that pupils treat staff, visitors and each other with respect.

"When considered alongside leadership, management and teaching which are all good, we truly have a good school where 'progress is accelerating' and is 'now strong across the school'.

"This truly is a time for us to celebrate and to spread our good news, while we continue to move the school forward and build on our achievements."