A SCHOOL in Ringwood has managed to maintain a good Ofsted rating through strong leadership from the new head teacher and promising progress from students.

At its latest inspection in March, Ringwood School was praised for its emphasis on excellent pastoral care and academic standards.

The report stated that “staff are united in their dedication to the pupils in the school” and “often go way above and beyond what’s needed”.

In the personal development, behaviour and welfare section of the report, inspectors said “the school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils are exceptionally well cared for”.

The report did point out that while there was "very good progress in mathematics and English", the quality of teaching "is less consistently strong in science".

"While leaders take effective action to improve the school, they do not measure the impact of their work carefully enough," the report added. "Tracking systems do not help leaders to identify easily which groups of pupils most need to improve."

Head teacher Leanne Symonds, who joined the school last September, said: “The inspection was a really rigorous process and has been a very positive experience for the school.

"The report highlights the great many strengths of the school and confirms the areas that we are working on to make it even better for our students and the community that we serve.”

To improve further, inspectors advised the school "review and evaluated new systems and structures carefully, so that leaders can identify more meticulously the difference they are making and therefore increase the pace of further improvements; develop a more strategic oversight of how well different groups of pupils are achieving, so that leaders can identify improvements to the quality of teaching and extra help for pupils that will lead to accelerated progress; and improve teaching in science to become consistently good, so that pupils make more rapid progress and achieve better outcomes than has been the case in the past".