A HEADTEACHER has said she is ‘bitterly disappointed’ by Ofsted’s rating of her school.

Longridge High School was told it ‘requires improvement’ and has lost the ‘good’ grade it achieved in 2011.

The Preston Road school was told to improve its leadership, teaching and the pupil’s outcomes but was praised for its personal development, behaviour and welfare of the students.

Headteacher Jane Green said that the education watchdog’s new framework, which was introduced in September, had put her school in a ‘difficult position’.

Lead inspector Dawn Platt said: “Pupils’ achievement varies across the school and requires improvement.

“Pupils’ progress is sluggish particularly in English, mathematics, science and for specific groups including the most-able and disadvantaged pupils.

“Pupils have limited opportunities to develop problem-solving and reasoning skills in mathematics.

“Senior leaders and governors do not check and evaluate the impact of the school’s day-to-day work with enough rigour to yield good achievement for all groups of pupils.

“Leaders’ evaluation of teaching and learning is not always accurate. Guidance on improvements is not centred on pupils’ achievements.

“Not all leaders are skilled in driving improvement effectively.

“Weaknesses are not pinpointed consistently well and, likewise, good practice is not always identified and shared among teachers.”

The school was praised for promoting harmonious relationships between pupils and staff, providing impartial careers guidance and its safeguarding policy.

Leaders’ work to support the personal welfare of the pupils was judged to be good and the report noted that pupils enjoy school and show pride in it.

Mrs Green said: “We are bitterly disappointed with the overall findings of the report.

“The inspectors stuck very stringently to the new framework and we were one of the first schools in the county to be inspected under it.

“I found the whole process very rushed and I am determined to regain the ‘good’ rating within the next two years.”

In a letter to parents she added: “The report is very clear in acknowledging that we are already taking action to ensure progress improves and that we have the capacity to improve.

“We are aware that there are key areas of the report which need to be robustly and speedily addressed.

“This is a process we had already begun to implement.”