Improving Sedgley school out of special measures
A secondary school has been taken out of special measures - one year after its new headteacher vowed to drive up standards.
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Dormston School, in Mill Bank, Sedgley, does still require improvement - but Ofsted removed the school from special measures, which it was placed in last year.
The education watchdog rated categories of leadership and the behaviour of pupils as 'good'.
Headteacher Ben Stitchman had said he would take the school out of special measures on his appointment last September.
Buoyed by the latest Ofsted report, he is now targeting further improvement before inspectors return in two years.
He said: "We are pleased that the school has been removed from special measures, we recognise and feel the report is a fair reflection of improvements made over the past year and we will continue to work to become an outstanding as quickly as possible.
"Our next target is to make sure our exam results in the summer are what we expect from a good school."
He added: "The key difference has been the change in expectations of children, who also want to their school improved. Their attendance and behaviour has got better."
The report followed an inspection on November 18 and 19.
It said Mr Stitchman had been 'highly effective' in re-shaping the school to one with high expectations.
It said the behaviour of students was good and they had responded well to the headteacher's appointment.
The inspectors said teaching had improved, but was not consistently good.
The progress of pupils was also still not good enough, according to the report, which put it down to a 'legacy of underachievement' now being addressed.
Mr Stitchman, who arrived from a school in Cheltenham to take over from Stephanie Sherwood, said: "We don't see this as a quick fix, this is the first step along the way to becoming a very good school."
Dudley North MP Ian Austin welcomed the Ofsted report.
He said: "This is a huge step in the right direction.
"Mr Stitchman, his colleagues and the school governors have kept their promise to get the school out of special measures in a year and I am sure the school will continue to improve in the future.
"This improvement shows that with the right leadership schools in Dudley can do just as well as those anywhere else, which is so important because we have to make education and skills our number one priority to attract the new investment and new industries on which our prosperity will depend in the future."
The school has almost 1,000 pupils, with around 10 per cent disabled or having special education needs.