THE principal of an Oxford school which was became an academy said improvements welcomed by Ofsted were only the beginning of a ‘great future’ for the institution.

Oxford Academy, formerly Peers School, was praised by the education watchdog in its first full report into the school since it opened in 2008.

It said the school, where a £33m redevelopment is due to finish in February, had undergone “rapid improvement” which looked set to continue.

Inspectors said the school, in Sandy Lane West, was “satisfactory,” but showed good prospects for further improvement.

Principal Mike Reading said the school’s transformation had only just begun, and the long-awaited move into the new building would boost standards even more.

He said: “When we move into the new buildings, it will immediately take us into a better environment for students to be learning in, and help teachers teach more effectively.

“We are not interested in improving by small incremental steps.

“In order to transform what is happening within our community fully, we need to keep up this pace of improvement. As far as the physical resources we have here are concerned, it’s not a well-designed site.

“If we are able to bring about these improvements working with what we have now, you can imagine we’re extremely excited about what will happen after that.”

The new building will provide facilities for up to 1,050 secondary school pupils and 400 sixth formers.

New features will include rooms that can change in size and shape to cater for different classes, and classrooms fitted with video cameras to let teachers record their lessons and watch them afterwards.

A new Leadership Centre will allow teachers to take Masters courses to improve their performance in the classroom.

Mr Reading said: “There has been a change in some of the teaching staff since we opened. With any change, people will move on for a variety of reasons, but we have kept the best that were here and brought in new talent.

“Ofsted has recognised the huge improvements that have taken place in behaviour and attendance, and that’s because of the improvement we have made in developing teachers.”

Oxford Academy, which is sponsored by the Church of England, Oxford Brookes University and the Beecroft Trust, opened in 2008 on the site of the Peers School, which was put into special measures in 2005 because it was deemed to be failing its pupils.

The rebuilt site, funded by the last government’s Building Schools for the Future programme, will also see Mabel Prichard Special School rebuilt and the creation of a library for pupils and the community.

The opening of the new building, set for January 2011, was pushed back a month by construction delays.

  • Mr Reading is growing a moustache for ‘Movember’, a month-long exercise in growing facial hair to raise money for the Prostate Cancer Charity.

For information go to uk.movember.com