By Kelly Eve Education Reporter

Last updated at 13:32, Wednesday, 09 December 2009

Cumbria's smallest secondary school has been given a glowing report by government inspectors.

Julie Richardson

Beacon Hill School in Aspatria has several outstanding features, according to a team from the watchdog Ofsted.

They include the effectiveness of the leadership team, headed by Julie Richardson, and the extent to which youngsters adopt healthy lifestyles.

Overall, inspectors rank the 178-pupil school as “good” and say it continues to “improve at a speedy rate”.

Headteacher Mrs Richardson now aims to make further improvements in an attempt to get Beacon Hill the top “outstanding” ranking when inspectors return.

The inspection report states: “The school provides a good education to all groups of students and is improving at a speedy pace.

“The headteacher has driven impressive improvement in almost all aspects of the school’s work in the last three years.

“She is ably assisted by the deputy and together they have developed an ambitious plan to raise standards even further.”

Praise from Ofsted comes after Beacon Hill was recently highlighted by Schools Secretary Ed Balls as one of the most improved schools in the country for its GCSE pass rates in English and maths.

Ofsted inspectors noted that children enter the 11-16 school with below average levels in literacy and numeracy, but efforts to improve success at GCSE have seen the proportion of A*-C grades double in the last three years.

Pupil behaviour is also good, with bullying only a rare occurrence. Efforts to cut the number of exclusions and the number of children persistently absent from school were also highlighted.

There was also praise for the way Beacon HIll works to adapt its curriculum, reviewing it every year, to meet the needs of its pupils despite the challenges posed by the small size of the school and its body of staff.

Mrs Richardson said: “I am extremely pleased with the report as it confirms what we believe about our school.

“Although we are only small, we have proved that we can provide an education of the highest standards.

“I would like to thank all our staff, pupils and governors for their hard work, determination and commitment to the school and to the parents for their loyalty and support,” she added.

“However, this is not the end of our work and we continue on our journey to make Beacon Hill an outstanding school.”

Inspectors from Ofsted have asked the school to share good practice among teachers across all subjects to help improve on the overall rate of exam success.

They have also asked that the school does more to increase the proportion of students gaining the highest exam grades by using its reward system more consistently and raising the aspirations of young people in the choice of their future careers.

First published at 11:24, Wednesday, 09 December 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk