OUR hard work has been recognised.

That was the view of a Hampshire principal after Ofsted inspectors judged his college good.

The Henry Cort Community College was celebrating after it received good ratings across the board, maintaining its good rating for a decade.

This follows on from its best ever GCSE results last summer.

Inspectors, who visited the college in Fareham last month, said an increasing number of students were making outstanding progress.

The inspection report praised the college’s associate and executive principals, who had made many improvements to teaching, learning and behaviour and had clear plans to tackle areas still needing attention. The report also highlighted how able students were achieving highly in many subjects, especially in English and languages.

It said: “Where teaching was outstanding, students are actively encouraged to be proactive in thinking for themselves and to guide their own learning so that they are prepared well for further and higher education.”

Their main findings included: n The college is inclusive and is dedicated to helping all students to succeed.

  • n Teachers form very good relationships with their classes and students work hard because they want to do well.
  • n Most subject leaders closely monitor the work of the teachers in their departments to ensure that students are taught well and are helped to improve.
  • n Teaching is typically good because teachers plan interesting lessons that engage students, building on previous learning.

However, the report said the school had not reached outstanding yet because some teachers were not giving students the necessary work and feedback to help them achieve at the highest level.

It also highlighted that some subject leaders were not sufficiently checking that teaching was of the highest standard and that students entitled to extra funding had not achieved similar GCSE grades to others with the same abilities.

Henry Cort achieved its best ever GCSE results by four per cent last year.

The percentage of students gaining five or more good grades at GCSE including in English and mathematics rose and was above the national average.

The college, in Hillson Drive, was on its previous inspection graded good with several outstanding features in 2011, but executive principal Phil Munday said that Ofsted had narrowed the number of categories schools are graded for, which made it harder to get outstanding ratings.

He said the school was already working to address the points raised and had focused on improving achievement of students who receive funding and that he was confident that this would be evident in this summer’s GCSE results.

“I am extremely proud of the commitment and hard work of our students, staff and governors.”