STOURPORT High School has been told to improve by Ofsted, after inspectors found standards had 'declined considerably' since the school was rated outstanding in 2012.

The Minster Road school, which is currently closed after a break-in on Tuesday night, was graded 'requires improvement' in all areas following an inspection last month.

A follow-up report released today describes past leadership as 'ineffective', while year 11 pupils' attainment in 2017 and 2018 was 'significantly below average due to weak teaching'.

The progress of disadvantaged and more able students was found to be too slow and student's behaviour was 'not yet good' due to teachers not consistently applying the school's new behaviour policy.

Inspectors said the governing body did not fully understand the school's performance and were therefore not effectively holding leaders to account.

However, Ofsted praised the newly-appointed principal Lorna Deakin, who took over in September last year, for showing 'unwavering drive and determination to improve the school from a very low starting point'.

The quality of teaching and the behaviour and achievement of current pupils was found to be improving and safeguarding was effective.

Leadership of the quality of teaching was described as 'strong' and a new teaching and learning strategy was beginning to have a positive impact.

Overall learning had notably improved and the sixth form had undergone significant changes to bring about improvements.

Responding to the report, Mrs Deakin said: "We're really proud of what we have already achieved on this journey.

"Our pastoral system is strong, we have introduced a curriculum that gives students more choice, and most importantly leadership of teaching is strong.

"I, my staff, our governing body, and the trust are as ambitious as ever for our school and we continue to place our young people at the centre of everything we do.

"We all remain committed to providing the highest quality education that our students deserve."