THE FOREST High School in Cinderford has been rated “inadequate” by education watchdog Ofsted.

The school has been placed in special measures and will be closely monitored by inspectors with visits every term next year, after an inspection found the school was not providing a broad and effective curriculum for every student, saying there is poor behaviour in lessons and the school was not well led in some areas.

The school says Ofsted recognised that improvements are being made but it was too early for inspectors to see the impact of them.

The opening paragraph of the report states: “The quality of education pupils receive is not good enough.

“Staff have low expectations of pupils, particularly pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and pupils who speak English as an additional language.”

It says many parents support new headteacher Alan Dane – who was appointed in January – and he has made some improvements such as behaviour around the school.

But it adds: “…there is still a long way to go. Learning is, too often, disrupted by poor behaviour. This is because the pupils’ needs are not always met well enough.”

The reports says pupils are keen to learn about a broader range of subjects and want to do well but the organisation of the curriculum to know or remember more while teaching does not help pupils learn as well as they could.