A SECONDARY school in Stanford-le-Hope, found to require improvement before Christmas is making rapid progress, Ofsted has revealed.

Hassenbrook Academy was visited by inspector Jason Howard in April, who found that “senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas that most require improvement”.

During a visit in December, the Government watchdog said that some teaching at the 600-pupil school was inadequate and the quality of marking varied across subjects, with students not being shown consistently how to reach the next steps or not making corrections pointed out by teachers.

But Mr Howard said that the school now had “clear and ambitious priorities”, that the curriculum has been developed to better suit pupils needs and the “systems to monitor quality of teaching and marking” had been extended further.

Headteacher Michelle Bamber, who took over at the school in September, is delighted at the progress.

She said: “It is very pleasing to receive recognition from Ofsted that Hassenbrook has improved so much in a short space of time and that we are all driving this improvement.”

Mrs Bamber said that she was positive new teacher recruits were making a positive impact on the school and that the its tailored curriculum - one of the often cited advantages of becoming an academy - mean pupils will leave the school with a “broad and balanced set of qualifications, recognised by employers and universities, built around raising aspiration”.

She added: “Pupils are beginning to show more proactivity in lessons, that’s important because it’s about getting pupils to take a bit more responsibility and realise it’s down to them too.

“We have to set standards high, raise the game and raise expectations.”