A HEAD teacher has defended his school after Ofsted said it "requires improvement" for the second successive inspection.
St Mary's Roman Catholic High, in West Croydon, was told to improve after a visit from inspectors in June 2013 and has been given the same grade following an inspection last month.
Despite Ofsted's findings and poor GCSE results last summer, head teacher Patrick Shields said the school is moving forwards.
Mr Shields, who took on the role formally in September, declined to be interviewed by the Advertiser after the report was published last Friday, but released a statement via email.
He said: "St Mary's welcomes the recent Ofsted report as it provides a clear focus for our continued development. St Mary's is a good school with many areas of strength."
Although inspectors did praise St Mary's in a number of areas, they did not agree it is a "good" school, rating it as "requires improvement" in every category.
The report, published on Friday, said the school needs to do better because students' achievement is "too variable across subjects and between groups of students."
It said performance of the art, business, geography and PE departments "is not as good as it should be".
Core subjects, such as reading, writing, communication and mathematics, are "not yet taught effectively across the school", wrote lead inspector Jackie Jones' report said.
Ofsted criticised teachers for a lack of consistently and said the school's governing body had failed to challenge senior staff over standards and attainment.
The report follows disappointing GCSE results which saw just 42 per cent of pupils leaving St Mary's last summer with at least five A* to C grades including English and maths. While this was marginally above the minimum standard required by the government, it was eight per cent lower than in 2013.
There are signs the school could be on the right track, however.
Ofsted said Mr Shields had identified St Mary's strengths and weaknesses "quickly" and had put into place measures to bring about improvements. It said the changes were "beginning to bring about more rapid school improvement", including to pupil behaviour.
Mr Shields, who has worked behind the scenes at the school since early 2014, replaced Ejiro Ughwujabo, who retired last summer.
Ofsted was particularly pleased that the achievement of disadvantaged students, those who are disabled or have educational needs, is improving "rapidly". Some 37 per cent of the school's more than 700 pupils fall into those categories, double the national average.
St Mary's, in Woburn Road, will be reinspected within a year to gauge whether those improvements have spread to other parts of the school.
Mr Shields said: "I relish the opportunity to continue to move the school forward and will be working with colleagues to draft a robust action plan to ensure further progress."
The Advertiser asked the Education Commission, which oversees Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Southwark, whether it had any plans to convert St Mary's into an academy.
Ann Bamford, director of education, did not answer the question but said: "St Mary's is on a rapid journey to becoming a high performing school.
"The Ofsted report speaks particularly positively about the strengths of the new head teacher and the very positive behaviour of students.
"The report highlights the broad and balanced curriculum in the school and the very positive Catholic ethos."
