NEWS that Newent Community School has been put into special measures came as a bombshell for parents at a special meeting on Monday night.

Headteacher Jane Steele told parents that staff had been left reeling in shock after hearing the Ofsted verdict.

Inspectors branded the quality of teaching, leadership and pupil achievement as inadequate. Behaviour at the school was also said to be in need of improvement by inspectors who visited after Christmas and concluded that some pupils were not making enough progress and were sometimes bored in lessons.

The Ofsted report came as a body blow because last year the Newent secondary had the best GCSE results in the Forest.

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