A CHRISTCHURCH secondary school has slipped down in the Ofsted rankings following a recent inspection.

The Grange School in Somerford was marked by Ofsted inspectors as “satisfactory” following the visit at the end of February this year.

At their last inspection in 2009, Ofsted deemed the school to be “good and improving”.

The inspectors’ report, which was published yesterday recognised that parents, students and staff are “overwhelmingly positive” about the school with new head teacher Steve Dossett quickly gaining their confidence.

But while noting the increased attainment in GCSEs, the inspectors said students have too few opportunities to develop their literacy, numeracy and communication skills in lessons other than English and maths.

They said variation in the quality of teaching and leadership meant that students were not making good progress in all subjects, which is why the school could not be judged as good.

However, they praised the leadership of English and mathematics as “very effective” and noted improved attendance levels.

They also said: “If there is poor behaviour it is dealt with effectively, and parents feel that bullying is dealt with effectively.”

Head teacher Steve Dossett, who joined the school in July 2011, said: “We are pleased that this Ofsted inspection has recognised many of the strengths of the school; the Ofsted report only gives a limited view of all the good things we do here.

“We continue to go from strength to strength and are very clear about what we need to do in order to improve further.

“The Ofsted framework and benchmarks have been raised; our GCSE results and levels of student progress – for which we have some of the best results in the county – are our best ever and yet we have been graded ‘satisfactory’ under the new framework.

“We are very clear about what we need to do in order to achieve the ‘good’ grading in our next inspection.

“The staff and leadership at the school are committed to providing the very best education at The Grange.”

Schools graded satisfactory may receive monitoring visits before their next inspection.