Staffordshire's Great Wyrley High School placed in special measures

A lack of direction, student progress, poorly planned lessons, not enough pupils achieving good grades and a governing body branded ineffective are all among failings listed by Ofsted in its report on Great Wyrley High School.

Inspectors went into the Hall Lane school, which caters for around 850 pupils, at the end of April and observed lessons, sampled students' work, scrutinised school records, spoke to students and teachers as well as listen to the views of dozens of parents.

In a damning report published yesterday - Tuesday - Ofsted rated four out of five key areas – leadership, teaching, results and sixth form – 'Inadequate'.

See the full Ofsted report

The last area, concerned with pupil development and welfare, required improvement.

The report said: "Leaders have failed to give the school a clear direction since the last inspection in 2014. As a result, the school has not improved.

"Leaders, including some subject leaders, do not do enough to improve the quality of teaching.

"Too many pupils in school now make inadequate progress from their starting points, particularly the most-able pupils."

It stated the governing body lacked the skills to hold the school to account properly.

The fact that just 43 per cent of students gained five good GCSE grades, including English and Maths, last year weighed heavily against the school.

They also declared progress among the most able children was 'slow' and 'very few' achieved the highest grades.

The watchdog noted behaviour among youngsters was improving and most acted 'sensibly' moving between lessons but they also reported that it became worse if the quality of teaching was weak.

Ofsted did however recognise that a new interim leadership team which has been in place since the start of January had made improvements while they credited some teachers for getting the best out students.

In response executive headteacher Nicky Crookshank said: "All staff and governors are committed to addressing the issues in the report and raising standards for all our students. We are confident that we, and all the staff, are making changes to improve the standards at Great Wyrley High School.

"Many of the areas identified are ones we are already aware of, and have taken steps in the last few months to address these.

"One of the fundamental things in the report for us is that pupils feel safe, and they know who they can turn to if they need help."