A RAMSBOTTOM school has been told that it ‘requires improvement’ by inspectors.

Woodhey High School, in Ramsbottom, received the rating in all but one area following a visit from Ofsted back in November.

Headteacher Brian Roadnight, who took over in 2013 after six years as the school’s deputy, said:

“Ofsted’s recommendations are all areas that we had already identified for ourselves and that we shared with inspectors prior to the inspection. We have been working on these priorities through our School Improvement Plan and will continue to do so.

"I am surprised that Ofsted have been critical of pupil progress at Woodhey. It can be seen by looking at the School Performance Tables website that pupil progress at Woodhey is in line with similar schools who are considered to be at least ‘good’ by Ofsted.

"We acknowledge that, by the DFE’s progress measure, some of our disadvantaged pupils do not make the required academic progress. We work hard to make sure that all pupils have a relevant curriculum, sometimes using alternative provision for pupils who are less suited to a fully academic curriculum.

"We are proud to say that in 2017 all disadvantaged pupils leaving Woodhey went on to appropriate education, employment or training.

"Several false comments in the draft report, which have now been removed, suggested that Inspectors had not fully understood Woodhey’s position.

"Consequently, the school feels that Ofsted’s judgement has been harsh.

"However, I would like to assure parents, pupils and the community that we will do all that we can quickly to improve in the identified areas so that any future judgements will be more reflective of the positive school that our pupils experience on a daily basis.”

School inspectors reported that leaders and governors are too generous in their evaluation of how well the school is doing and that the quality of teaching was variable and, at times, lacking in challenge.

The reported also stated that 'over the last two years, disadvantaged pupils have not made the progress of which they are capable'.

The school were told that they must improve teaching so that more pupils, especially disadvantaged pupils, make faster progress, further improve the attendance of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities, and improve leadership at all levels.

However, Ofsted did praise the school’s work on pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare, saying that "'pastoral staff, teachers and leaders support pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development well'.

The report states that pupils at Woodhey also regularly achieved above-average standards in eight GCSE subjects.

The school, which has 1,105 pupils, received an overall rating of ‘good’ following its last inspection in 2013.