MAJOR improvements are under way at a Poole secondary school heavily criticised by government inspectors last summer.

Ofsted has carried out a monitoring inspection at Poole High School and said new head teacher Paul Gray has made a "very positive start" in addressing areas of concern.

A full Ofsted inspection carried out in June last year concluded the Wimborne Road school "Requires Improvement" and said leadership, progress of pupils and the achievement of sixth form students all needed to be improved.

Inspectors also said staff had low expectations of pupils and said targets were not challenging enough.

But Her Majesty's Inspector Simon Rowe was full of praise after spending a day at the school in December.

As well as a new head teacher, there is a bigger senior leadership team and new subject leaders.

Mr Rowe's report, just published, says: "Pupils say that teachers are more passionate about their subjects and their teaching and relationships between pupils and teachers are far more positive" he said.

"Pupils are more engaged in their learning, attendance has risen and the proportion of pupils receiving a fixed-term exclusion has reduced significantly."

He said pupils get better feedback on how well they are progressing, disadvantaged pupils receive more effective, individualised support and that changes have been fully embraced by both staff and students.

He also described an increase in pupils' reading ages as "particularly impressive" and added: "Effective strategies are now in place to support those pupils who enter the school with low reading and literacy skills. The extra support provided for these pupils is highly effective in raising their key literacy skills."

Governors, he said, are now more confident to challenge senior leaders to ensure that the pace of improvement is maintained.