A senior partnership has been launched to address failings at The Charles Dickens School, Broadstairs, identified in a damning Ofsted report which labelled elements of the school as “inadequate”.

The 1,200-strong school’s previous Ofsted report in June 2011 was “good”.

Head teacher Andrew Olsson said in the past two months the school had made “a great number of positive steps forward in line with its action plan under review by HMI [Her Majesty’s Inspectors]”.

A new partnership has been launched with Paul Luxmoore, executive head teacher of Dane Court Grammar School and King Ethelbert School and Kate Greig, head teacher with her leadership team at King Ethelbert School.

Mr Olsson was criticised for not having a clear vision for the school and the governing body of failing to monitor the quality of the school’s work.

Ofsted identified the poor behaviour of a minority of pupils which gave “significant concern” and said that students were not always kept safe.

Attendance was below national average and in decline and exclusions were above average and increasing.

Too much teaching failed to give pupils a good understanding of key ideas and basic subject knowledge and teachers did not check students’ progress during lessons well enough. Achievement in maths was “particularly low” and teaching was “not good enough to improve it”.

Ofsted found the sixth form was “inadequate” and exam results for the first students were very low.

Mr Olsson said: “I am thankful to the governors of the Coastal Academies Trust for allowing this investment of professional expertise that will create benefits for youngsters right across Thanet as well as The Charles Dickens School.”

He said parental communication is being strengthened with a new sixth form website and new assessment reporting which had a much improved focus on individual student progress. Homework was now available online and could be accessed using an app or the school website.

School staffing has been strengthened, with new appointments to the maths department.

Mr Olsson added: “I am thankful for the overwhelming support of our parents which is typified by a recent survey completed by Year 7 parents. This clearly supports the view that their sons and daughters enjoy school life, feel safe and benefit from a broad curriculum that both challenges and provides opportunities for success.

“The organisation of the student body has also been changed, returning to a year group format while retaining many of the strengths of the former college system in regards to competition, cultural and sporting events.

“Support for student progress has particularly focused on our current Year 11 who have already taken English examinations and are preparing for the international GCSE mathematics exam in January.

“The chairman of governors has invested considerable time and effort in rapidly completing the external review of school governance and already the new focus and organisation is leading to a far tighter strategic focus.

“The school has responded rapidly to the Ofsted judgement and will be working hard to embed many of its planned changes to ensure that all students progress and achieve their full potential.”