STAFF at Beamont Collegiate Academy have been told they need to make improvements following a report by Ofsted inspectors.

The academy, on Long Lane, was not rated as 'good' for reasons including the number of students who failed to achieve five GCSE grades A* to C and disadvantaged students were attaining and achieving 'less well' than their peers.

Leadership and management and behaviour and safety of pupils were rated as 'good' while the quality of teaching and the achievement of pupils were both rated as 'requiring improvement'. 

The report adds: "The academy has undergone rapid change during the last 18 months. Staff turnover has been significant.

"A new senior leadership team is in place and a more productive climate for learning has been established and expectations for both students and staff raised.

"Leaders, managers and governors are working hard to overcome a poor legacy of learning and low expectations and an ethos of ‘high expectations, no excuses’ has been entrenched."

But inspectors also found where activities do not offer 'appropriate levels of challenge', the questioning of students and their responses are 'too shallow and fail to promote a deeper understanding and extend thinking'.

The report adds: "Too often students do not make sufficient progress because their aspirations are low and the teachers’ expectations for them are limited."