A Shirley headteacher is confident his school is back on track after it was judged to ‘require improvement’ by Ofsted at its latest inspection.

The Forest Academy, in Bridle Road, dropped from its previous ‘good’ rating when the most recent report was published on Friday (July 13).

The inspection, which was carried out over two days from June 19, found that teaching had not enabled pupils to reach their potential.

The report states: “In the 2016 and 2017 Key Stage 2 reading and mathematics assessments, Year 6 pupils made much less progress compared to the national average.

“The progress of boys and disadvantaged pupils was also well below national figures.”

But among the school’s strengths, the inspector states that head teacher Wayne Cooper has “wasted no time in raising aspirations”.

He came on board in September and said he is committed to improvement.

Mr Cooper, who was raised in Croydon, said: “I have a drive for improvement and bringing new energy.”

When he started at the school he was keen to increase the number of pupils.

The Ofsted report states there are currently 307 pupils enrolled at the academy which is run by The Synaptic Trust.

The trust opened the primary school for in September 2013 on the site of what was Spring Park Primary School.

Mr Cooper said that reading and maths results for 2018 had improved and were now in line with national average.

“The reason why [the Ofsted rating] went down a little was because of the 2016 and 2017 results,” he said.

“From 2016 to 2017 they improved but they were not where they should have been.

“The results have just come up and they are now over the national average.

“We know exactly what we need to work on, so that is what we are doing.”

The breakdown of the report saw the school deemed requiring improvement in ‘quality of teaching, learning and assessment’ and ‘outcomes for children’.

It was rated good in the other three categories – effectiveness of leadership ‘personal development, behaviour’ and welfare and ‘early years provision’.

To improve, the report stated: “In Key Stage 2, leaders should ensure that teaching and pupils’ outcomes are consistently good, and that all groups of pupils fully overcome their previous underachievement.”

It adds that across the school the most able pupils should be encouraged to reach a standard they are capable of.

The school will be re-inspected in 30 months and Mr Cooper said he is confident it will be rated at least ‘good’ then.