A SECONDARY school has been told it needs to improve after Ofsted inspectors reported that the achievement of pupils, teaching and leadership were not good enough.

The Hurst Community College, in Brimpton Road, Baughurst, was visited by the education watchdog on May 21 and 22, and in a report published on June 14, inspectors judged the school overall to “require improvement.”

The result is a step down from the school’s last inspection in June 2010, when it was graded as “good.”

However, headteacher Malcolm Christian has described the inspection verdict as “perverse”.

The report said that teaching needs to improve at the school, particularly in maths between Key Stages 2 and 4.

It added that the school fails to “add enough value to students’ learning” because pupils’ attainment between Year 7 and 11 stays at “just above average”.

Inspectors criticised the work set by some teachers as insufficiently challenging and added: “Marking does not always explain what students have to do to improve.”

The report said the quality of teaching required improvement, although the best teachers planned carefully and showed good “subject expertise”.

Critical of leadership and management at The Hurst, which they said required improvement, the report’s authors added: “Progress towards improving some of the key action points raised during the previous Ofsted inspection has been too slow.”

Nonetheless the behaviour and safety of pupils was graded as “good” and students told inspectors they had a “positive experience” of school and enjoyed good relationships with their teachers.

Attendance at the 970-pupil school was now back up to an average level, after action by senior staff, the report said.

Disappointed with the report’s findings, Mr Christ-ian said: “It is perverse that all our key indicators are better than in 2010 when we were graded good.”

He added: “We are going to continue to work incredibly hard in partnership with pupils and parents to ensure our next inspection returns us to our rightful place.”

He said he had been pleased to see very positive comments in the Ofsted questionnaire for parents. These results had been better than for many schools with better overall grading, he pointed out.

Mr Christian said that since the previous inspection, Year 11 attainment, attendance, the progress of pupils, and the percentage of good teaching had improved.

He added: “Clearly, the standard expected of all schools has really shot up in the last nine months.

“Naturally, it is parents who know the school really well and we are delighted to have their continued support.”