School praised for making improvements (From Oxford Mail)

School praised for making improvements

7:10pm Thursday 3rd May 2012 in Education

Banbury School has been praised by Ofsted inspectors following an unannounced inspection.

At the monitoring visit in March, the school was told it was making good progress in making improvements and improving children’s behaviour.

Inspector Peter Limm said: “More Students are meeting their targets, which are challenging, and the school’s predictions indicate that this progress will be sustained in 2012. Students are making more progress, not least because there is better teaching, a much greater focus on learning, and improved management of poor behaviour in lessons.”

He praised a programme to develop literacy and numeracy skills, and said achievement and attainment had improved, with 82 per cent of Year 11 pupils getting five or more good GCSEs.

At its last full inspection, in September 2010, the school was described as satisfactory.

The school, which is federated with Dashwood Primary School, was among the first in the county to gain approval to convert to academy status. It is planned that both schools will become academies in August or September.