A YORK secondary school has been praised by Ofsted as a "good and effective" school.

Ofsted has just published its report on Millthorpe School following an inspection at the end of April.

It concluded that the school is well led and provides good value for money, with good teaching and students achieving well.

But the report also included criticisms and recommendations to further improve the school, which have been welcomed by Millthorpe and are already being addressed.

The report says students' attitudes, behaviour and relationships are good, and they have a positive relationship with their teachers.

It says pupils attain well-above average standards by Year 11, and the school's language college status gives them excellent opportunities to learn different languages and broaden their cultural horizons.

The school is also said to have very good links with other schools and the community, and extra-curricular provision and support for learning outside the school day are effective in promoting good learning.

However, the report says that students' progress through Years 7 to 9 is not undertaken rigorously enough, standards in ICT are overall unsatisfactory and the school has not made enough progress in providing for students' spiritual development, which is unsatisfactory. It says the school needs to provide a daily act of collective worship.

It says parents are generally supportive of the school, believing their children settle well and like school. Pupils also said they liked the school, and believed the teaching was good.

A large proportion of pupils were concerned about behaviour and bullying, but most are happy that reported incidents are sorted out satisfactorily.

Ofsted says Millthorpe has shown a satisfactory improvement since its last inspection in 1998.

Head teacher Tony Wooton said in a letter to parents that staff and governors were delighted that the report recognised the high quality of education provided at Millthorpe. The school welcomed Ofsted's recommendations "and, indeed, some changes in curriculum time allocations were already in hand and these will be in place by September".

Updated: 11:22 Wednesday, July 14, 2004