A BLACKBURN school has come out of special measures after being praised following its latest Ofsted inspection.

Pleckgate High School has been graded as 'requires improvement' after the education watchdog visited the school last month.

It was placed in special measures in February 2014 after being rated as 'inadequate' only two years after being considered a 'good' school by the inspectors.

At the time the inspectors said that there were tensions between governors, teachers and the then-headteacher Cherry Ridgway, who left the school a month later.

Lead inspector Janet Palmer said: "The gap between the progress made by disadvantaged students and their peers is closing rapidly in most subjects and has closed completely in mathematics.

"Leadership and management are good. Senior and middle leaders have successfully led improvements across the school.

"Behaviour in lessons and around the school is good. There is a welcoming atmosphere; students are at all times respectful and require little adult supervision.

"The acting headteacher, with the support of senior and middle leaders, has worked very effectively to improve the school and enable it to be removed from special measures.

"The curriculum is broad and balanced and provides very good opportunities for students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, preparing them well for life in modern Britain."

However, the reports states that despite improvements, the progress that students make across a range of subjects is not consistently good.

Mrs Palmer said: "Too few students take sufficient notice of the comments that their teachers make in their books about how to improve their work and make progress.

"Too few teachers use assessment information to ensure that the work in lessons is sufficiently challenging for students across the range of abilities."

Acting headteacher Mark Bradshaw, in a letter to parents, said: "This represents a significant achievement and is testament to all of the hard work, effort and dedication shown by students, their parents and the staff of the school and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved.

"The fact that this has been achieved in just over a year, considerably less than the average amount of time for a school to be taken out of special measures, is particularly encouraging and highlights the rapid progress the school has made.

"The overall judgement of the inspection is, that whilst the school still requires some improvement , both the behaviour and safety of the students within it, and the leadership and management of it, are now considered ‘good'.

"The report is clear evidence that the school is taking appropriate actions and making progress towards becoming good and, in time, outstanding.

"I am confident that it is a journey we will successfully make together."

Cllr Dave Harling, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s executive member for schools and education, said: “I am delighted with the result of the Ofsted inspection and clearly significant improvement has been made in some key areas."