The Wey Valley School in Weymouth has failed to improve after a critical Ofsted report 18 months ago.

The latest inspection, carried out in November, led to a second successive rating saying it ‘requires improvement’.

The report, based on an inspection in November 2014, states the school requ-ires improvement and listed a number of reasons it had not achieved the ‘good’ rating, including that ‘improvements in standards of teaching have not yet secured good progress for all students in all subjects, including mathematics’.

It also commented that in some lessons the tasks did not engage students’ interest and the pace of the lesson was too slow so students did not focus sufficiently to make good progress, the behaviour of some students was not allowing all lessons to flow smoothly and time was lost to low-level disruption.

The report added that marking of students’ work across the school was inconsistent.

The previous report, published on June 28, 2013, also stated the school ‘requires improvement’. However the latest report stated that since the last inspection there had been an improvement in the progress made by students in English and maths and the GCSE results in 2014 were the best ever achieved in English, maths and ‘several other subjects’.

Ofsted also said the behaviour of some pupils needs to improve.

However, in a letter to parents, principal Phil Thomas said: “Unfortunately, on the first day of inspection a small number of students from different year groups thought it would be amusing to ‘play up’ in front of inspectors. This influenced the outlook of inspectors and ultimately directly impacted on the judgement. It shows how important good behaviour is in the life of the school. Parents can help by impressing on students how good behaviour helps us all.”

Ofsted also called for an external review of how the school uses the ‘pupil premium’, additional money used to help disadvantaged pupils.

Mr Thomas said: “We will look at this. However Ofsted has said in the report: “The school has been successful in narrowing the gap between disadvantaged students and other pupils nationally.”

The report said the school’s work to keep students safe and secure was good, the curriculum offered a broad and balanced experience and there is an extensive range of extra-curricular activities including trips abroad.

Mr Thomas said: “Although it is disappointing not to have reached our goal of being rated as a ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ school, the report recognises that significant changes have been made and some of these changes have not yet had sufficient time to demonstrate secure improvements to the learning and progress of students.”

He added he was proud of their ‘best ever’ GCSE results in the various subjects. He said: “In addition, results and progress for students throughout the school are projected to improve further for this year and my staff and I will continue to inspire all our students to achieve their very best.”

Mr Thomas said: “Although we haven’t achieved what we wanted we feel we are getting there when it comes to delivering the education that young people in Weymouth need to equip them for life.”

Facts and figures

Gender: Mixed
Age range: 11-16
Pupils on roll: 838
Specialist status: Sports (Operational)
School capacity: 1,350
Ofsted inspection date: Nov 20-21, 2014
Previous inspection: Requires improvement
This inspection: As above
Leadership and Management: Requires improvement
Behaviour and safety of pupils: Requires improvement
Quality of teaching: Requires improvement
Achievement of pupils: Requires improvement
On the school’s website it said its mission is to inspire and achieve.
It states: “We believe every child deserves the right to be inspired through their education in order to fulfil their potential and prepare them for an active and successful life.”