ONE of Oxford's biggest schools has been praised for raising attainment, improving attendance, accelerating progress and reducing exclusions.

Following a recent Ofsted report, Cheney School, in Headington, was rated good with outstanding features — and almost every single thing which had been singled out for improvement at its last inspection in 2007 was marked as improved.

Nearly half the children at the 1,470-pupil school are from non-white British backgrounds, and 47 different languages are spoken, with one in four speaking a language at home other than English.

Headteacher Jolie Kirby said she was delighted with the report’s findings – which she said tallied with the school’s self-assessment.

She said: “It is much more rigorous under the new regime and we have made good progress on the categories from our last Ofsted three years ago.

“We are really pleased with how the inspectors saw the care and support we give to students as one of our strengths because we have worked really hard on that.”

The school was described as outstanding for the way in which it promotes community cohesion, and for how well it uses its resources.

In a letter to students, inspector David Scott said his team was particularly impressed by how well pupils got along and respected each other’s different cultures and traditions.

Mrs Kirby said: “There is lots of hard work behind a report like this and there were no surprises, we had identified the areas where we wanted to become even better.

“We work very hard to make sure students have positive relationships with each other. We are proud of that as a school and our students have really embraced it.

“Our cultural diversity is one of the strengths of the school – our students from various ethnic and cultural communities do very well at Cheney.”

The report said the school was improving under Mrs Kirby’s positive leadership, and was welcoming and harmonious with well-behaved pupils who respected the views of others.

It read: “Since the last inspection, the school has raised attainment, accelerated progress, reduced exclusions and improved overall attendance.

“These actions demonstrate that the school has good capacity to make the further improvements that are needed.”

Last year, 63 per cent of students achieved five A* to Cs at GCSE, compared to about 50 per cent in 2007.

Staff predict that figure will rise to 76 per cent for this year’s cohort, and Mrs Kirby said the focus was now on increasing the proportion who achieved the benchmark including English and maths.

Year Seven pupils praised the school.

Aveen Zain-Aloush said: “It’s a good education and a fantastic school where you can really learn.”

And Kallum Day said: “When you’re in school, they really give you the help you need. As you work you start to adapt – we learn new skills every week.”