A YORK school which is set to be closed by the council has challenged a report by Ofsted which gave it notice to improve.

The latest report into Burnholme Community College said the achievement and overall effectiveness of the school was inadequate, but behaviour and safety of its 270 pupils was good, and quality of teaching and leadership and management was satisfactory.

The report, published on the watchdog’s website today, said: “Significant improvement is required in relation to students’ achievement, particularly in English.

“The proportion of students gaining at least five A* to C grades at GCSE including English and mathematics, is below the national average and not rising quickly enough.”

According to the report, some gaps in pupils’ attainment were closing, but important ones remained, and while changes to the English curriculum had resulted in some impact, including “heartening signs of improvement” in early entry to examinations, the improvement “does not represent sustained improvement over time”.

At a meeting in May, parents, teachers and pupils wept and protested as City of York Council announced the pressure on school budgets and falling pupil numbers meant it was not financially viable to keep the school open.

A statement from head teacher Simon Gumn said the school had challenged the report, and said recent changes to Ofsted’s inspection process “raised the bar considerably making it considerably more challenging to get a ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory’ judgement”.

Mr Gumn also said the report contained many positive comments, and said: “During what continues to be a difficult time for the school, I will do all I can to ensure teaching and learning is of the highest quality, irrespective of the outcomes of the council’s decision on the future of our school.”

The council did not criticise the school’s achievements, or teaching at the school, but the report said there was a variety of teaching skills on show.

It said: “Where teaching is weaker, expectations of what students can achieve are low.

“Appropriate assessment systems monitor the progress that students make. However, this information is not used to best effect when planning lessons to ensure the needs of each student are met. This slows students’ progress. Students’ work is regularly marked, but the marking policy is not applied consistently.”