City Academy Bristol rated 'good' by Ofsted

The school is in Lawrence Hill, one of the most economically deprived areas in Bristol

A school which has been in special measures for four years has been rated good by Ofsted.

City Academy Bristol was criticised for leadership, governance and the quality of its teaching in a previous inspection in 2015.

Principal Jon Angell thanked parents who had "showed faith" and "chose the school despite the previous judgement".

The schools watchdog said "strong leadership" had "led to rapid improvement over the past three years".

Cabot Learning Federation took over the school in 2016 after Ofsted placed it in special measures in January 2015.

Mr Angell said challenges faced by the school included "a very poor reputation in the local community, very low staff morale and teaching that wasn't helping students progress".

Ofsted said Jon Angell and senior leaders had created a "truly inclusive school"

In their latest report Ofsted inspectors said leaders had a "good understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses" and "knew what to do to make the school even better".

They said pupils were making progress across all year groups and "under-performance was swiftly addressed".

The new rating has also received positive feedback on social media from local community organisations and politicians.

Mr Angell said: "The academy serves one of the most economically deprived areas in Bristol with data indicating that students arrive in the academy with some of the weakest reading, writing and maths scores in the country.

"Fifty per cent of the students also have English as an additional language and may not have been to school in any country let alone in England."

He added: "This inspection marks the end of the beginning, which was to get the academy to good.

"We now intend to push on and continue to improve the quality and breadth of educational experience that young people can have in our community."