The latest Ofsted inspection at Falmouth School found further improvements have resulted in the curriculum being transformed and a "real determination and passion" shown by everyone involved.

The school is currently receiving monitoring visits from Ofsted following a full inspection in May 2019, in which the school was rated 'inadequate' overall and in its leadership and management at that time, as well as requiring improvement in the 'personal development, behaviour and welfare' of students, although other areas, including the quality of teaching, were rated 'good'.

Since then the school has changed headteacher, with former deputy head Alex George being appointed interim head in September of that year.

The first monitoring visit from Ofsted, in February last year, showed that progress had already been made, and this latest report shows that even further improvements have now taken place.

Due to the ongoing issues relating to the coronavirus pandemic the most recent inspection, which took place last month before the Easter holidays, had be carried out remotely, meaning the findings are more limited than they would be usually.

Despite this, the inspector found that the headteacher and school leaders, as well as trustees and governors, showed a "real determination and passion to provide an education for pupils at Falmouth School in the current circumstances."

He went on to add: "Strong communication between school and home has been key in ensuring parents and pupils know what was expected of them during both the delivery of remote education and the return to on-site schooling."

The inspector noted the amount of work that had been carried out to redesign the school’s curriculum, so that pupils could make clear progress between joining in Year 7 and leaving in Year 13.

"Subject leaders have responded with great enthusiasm to bring about the transformation in curriculum design and delivery," he added, saying the next step was now to evaluate it success, saying: "A significant amount of change has taken place at the school in recent months but a rigorous evaluation of the impact of new initiatives is yet to take place."

The inspection found that regular checks were made to make sure pupils were understanding and remember what they were being taught.

Praise was given for the way the school had overseen the arrival of Year 7 pupils joining the secondary school, which was handled "smoothly and sensitively," despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Parents who responded to Ofsted’s questionnaire were said to be "overwhelmingly positive" in their views about the school, while almost all staff who responded to the staff questionnaire said that they were "proud to be a member of staff at the school."

However, the inspector noted that a significant number of staff raised concerns that some of the new initiatives implemented by the leaders were increasing their workload too much, and as a result the second point raised for further improvement at the school was for leaders to "consider carefully" this impact on staff.

Work with students with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) was found to have improved through "the effective work of the special

educational needs coordinator," and that "expectations for these pupils have been raised considerably."

The school joined The Roseland Multi Academy Trust in September last year and the inspector found that working with trustees and other leaders and teachers from schools within the trust had been "instrumental in improving the confidence and practice of staff at all levels."

Alex George, interim headteacher, said: "It was fantastic to have such positive feedback and our inspector also commented that we now need to make sure that we monitor the impact of the new initiatives that we have put in place and try to ensure that there is not excessive work for our staff."

He told the Packet that everyone at the school had worked hard to see this change, adding that he was really pleased with what had been achieved so far and the fact that parents were really behind the school.