AN URMSTON school has been rated ‘inadequate’ in its latest Ofsted inspection, published last week.

St Antony’s Catholic College, in Bradfield Road, was deemed to have experienced a drop in several areas since its last inspection in December 2008, which received an overall rating of ‘good’.

During an inspection undertaken in early July, inspectors rated the achievement of pupils and quality of teaching as inadequate, while stating that the behaviour and safety of pupils and the school’s leadership and management require improvement.

Joanne Clark, chairman of the governing body of St Antony’s, said: “We are not happy that only 55 per cent of our lessons were judged to be outstanding or good and all our staff are embracing the necessary change and examining the quality of their lesson preparation and delivery.

“We are gratified that parents, who have been informed of our comprehensive and detailed action plans, have been hugely supportive and encouraging and can see that progress is being made.

“Not to devalue the Ofsted report, but St Antony’s had invested in a skills-based, vocational curriculum only for the plans to be shelved almost immediately after the last election.

“It is also a commonly-held view that the inspection regime is now significantly more draconian than it was in 2008.”

Though inspectors praised head teacher Keith Turmeau’s impact at leading the school’s improvement in terms of teaching, they believe a lot of hard work needs to be done.

The number of pupils achieving the benchmark five or more A* to C grades at GCSE has fallen since the last inspection, while some teachers’ marking is perceived to be inconsistent.

The report also highlighted teachers do not plan lessons with students’ varying levels of competence in mind.

The school will now have more regular Ofsted inspections, and could be placed in special measures if standards do not improve.