A HEADTEACHER has said he has 'complete confidence' in continuing to improve education at a Workington secondary school, following an Ofsted report which found the school 'requires improvement'.

St Joseph's Catholic High School in Workington was inspected by Ofsted on November 28 and 29, with inspectors finding that the school 'required improvement' in all areas - quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management.

In response to the report, the school's head Ian Nevitt said 'it was worth noting' the 'significant national debate' currently surrounding Ofsted inspections and added that the inspection was carried out shortly before school inspections were stopped, following the Ruth Perry inquiry.

Inspectors found that 'pupils do not attend school as regularly as they should, particularly pupils with SEND and those who are disadvantaged'.

While inspectors acknowledged that the behaviour of the majority of pupils was good, there was a minority of pupils who did not behave well and that 'this has resulted in a higher-than-expected number of suspensions and exclusions'.

Mr Nevitt said: "We have a small number of pupils in school, and outside of school, who fail to meet the high standards of behaviour that we expect from all our children. We will maintain our work with families to help and support these children.

"However, while Ofsted might talk about how our suspension and permanent exclusion rates are above national average, this colours their judgement around behaviour in school.

"I strongly disagree with them and I want to assure all our families that we will continue to have high standards and we will use all measures available in school to ensure that children are not impacted upon by the poor behaviour of a minority of pupils and celebrate the exemplary behaviour of the vast majority of our children."

Mr Nevitt added that inspectors had only seen a 'snapshot' of the school community. "Although I respect the views of the inspection team, their interpretation of the school is based on a short visit, they do not see the hard work and dedication I see from St Joseph's staff day in day out," he said.

"I have complete confidence that we will continue to improve the quality of education in our school to ensure all students achieve their very best and leave school as respectful, kind, well rounded individuals.

"Thank you to all our families and our local community for their continued support.

"We also want to thank our parents for the lovely supportive messages we have received since the report was released."