FALMOUTH School will advertise for a new headteacher in the coming weeks, as it continues to make progress under interim management.

Since receiving an "inadequate" Ofsted last year, a new board of trustees has overseen improvements and interim CEO Mark Lees was appointed in November.

"I've enjoyed getting to grips with the issues. I'm working with a top team, moving on a number of tricky issues and the school feels like a really good place to be," said Mark, who is a vastly experienced education practitioner in Cornwall.

"There has been a lot of uncertainty so we've been working on stabilising the MAT (multi-academy trust), starting to improve the schools and overseeing the transition into what comes next," he added.

The next step of the school's development will be announced on March 16, when the Regional Schools Commissioner makes the decision on its future.

Essentially there are three possible outcomes - that the school joins Roseland Academy's MAT; the school and the two primaries, King Charles C of E and St Francis C of E, joins Roseland Academy's MAT; or that the school is not considered suitable to join the Roseland Academy MAT.

In the event of the third option, another MAT would have to be considered. In any case, the current interim board of trustees will be dissolved on August 31 ahead of the new school year in September.

Phil Orwin, chairman of the interim board, added: "We have tried to be as transparent as we possibly can - to staff, pupils, parents and the media. At this stage we have absolutely no idea what the commissioner's decision will be, but we are continuing to work with the Roseland before March 16.

"As part of the progress we are making, we will be advertising for a new headteacher soon, with a view to them starting in September. While we are working to address the issues, we mustn't also lose sight of the really strong schools that we have.

"The last Ofsted we had (in May 2019) reported inadequate leadership, but the pupils and teaching staff were praised - we are very happy with what is going on in the classroom," he added.

Inspectors are expected to return to the school after this current half term, which is standard procedure following an "inadequate" Ofsted rating.

"We're excited by their return and confident that they will see we have taken great strides to tackle the various issues reported last year," said Mr Lees.