STAFF and pupils are celebrating after their school was taken out of special measures.

The Bromfords School, in Grange Avenue, Wickford, was rated inadequate in every area earlier this year due to poor teaching, bad behaviour and “ineffective” leadership after the sudden resignation of long-term headteacher Marian Sparks.

New headteacher Daniel Gee was drafted in at the beginning of this school year, and is helping to turn around the fortunes of the troubled secondary and sixth form.

An Ofsted report released this week shows Bromfords, which has 1,089 pupils on its roll, has made significant improvements to move from the lowest grading.

But inspectors found Bromfords still requires improvement and Mr Gee admits the school has a long journey ahead.

He said: “We are all very pleased the inspection recognised the significant amount of work that had been undertaken at Bromfords. We are particularly pleased the team got to meet so many of our students who, as ever, were amazing ambassadors.

“As a school, we have high expectations of ourselves and our students. The inspectors spoke positively about the improvements in achievement, teaching and behaviour which they saw during the inspection.

“The removal of special measures is a clear step forward on our journey, but it is important to reiterate we continue to strive to improve further and to provide our students with the best possible opportunities and outcomes.”

Ofsted praised the school for “significantly” better results, high attendance and regular teacher training sessions.

John Mitcheson, lead inspector, said: “The headteacher’s vision for the school is establishing a culture and ethos in which expectations of staff and students are high and teachers’ confidence and competence are rising.

He has quickly gained their support by providing them with professional development to increase their effectiveness and by supporting them in managing students’ behaviour.”

STILL MORE TO BE DONE

THE Bromfords School has been told improvements are still urgently needed to ensure marking is thorough, teaching is consistent and behaviour is good.

During the latest inspection, which took place last month, Ofsted found some teachers were not strict enough and pupils were able to disrupt lessons.

They also found:

-Students do not achieve high enough results in science 

- Teaching often fails to challenge or inspire more able pupils

- The internal inclusion room is not effective in improving bad behaviour 

- Sixth formers are not given enough guidance on the A-level subjects they should be studying