Despite “disappointing” exam results in August, reasonable progress has been made by Deal’s secondary school in getting out of special measures, the latest Ofsted report has claimed.

Castle Community College has been given feedback by inspectors after a visit on January 21 and 22.

The report, sent by Simon Hughes, HM Inspector, has advised that the academy should not appoint newly qualified teachers - suggesting it is experienced staff that will pull the school out of the failing category.

Interim principal Jane Hadlow, who was praised for her tireless efforts, said: “We are now making progress and this report reflects that.

“We are aware that there are still issues to be addressed, but we are resolute in our intention to come out of “Special

"We are now making progress and this report reflects that" - Jane Hadlow, Interim principal, CCC

Measures” with a grading of “Good”. We are ambitious for our school and for our students.’ Our aim we are focussed on and working hard for is to come out of special measures in the academic year 2015-16 after we have had our next set of GCSE results published.

“We are particularly proud of comments made about behaviour, safety of students’, the quality of leadership in and management of the school and we are also pleased with the acknowledgement that teaching has improved in many subjects.”

The newly merged school was placed into special measures in March 2014, six months after the amalgamation with Walmer Science College.

Among the targets suggested by inspectors at the time was raising the achievement of pupils, especially boys.

This week’s report said: “Students’ achievement is beginning to improve. This has been caused by leaders insisting that students raise expectations of themselves. The new leadership team has been relentless in asking teachers to be ambitious for each of their students.”

It added: “Published examination results from the summer 2014 were disappointing. They were the first set of results for the newly constituted Castle Community College which came into being in September 2013. The examination results were, however, better than for the two predecessor schools in 2013 and recent checks show that performance continues to recover.”

The quality of teaching was another concern in the March 2014 inspection and this week’s report confirms “teaching has improved in many subjects.”

Marked progress was seen in performing arts, and although improvements were seen in maths, a significant proportion of teaching was deemed inadequate.

The report said: “A minority of teachers are still not making good use of time in lessons, setting work which is hard enough for the most able students or providing good enough resources to support each student’s learning. As a result, students’ progress is inconsistent.”

On behaviour it adds the conduct of students in lessons has improved and inspectors saw very little low level disruption or bad behaviour. Effective strategies have been put into place - but are not always used consistently.

“Students say that, in the last six months, behaviour has improved markedly. The large majority of parents agree.”

Interim principal Jane Hadlow was praised for her tireless determination to improve the school.

“She is ambitious for the students and accepts that there is still much to be done to ensure that they receive the education they deserve.”

The leadership team was described as “increasingly effective” and has already had a significant impact on students’ conduct.