PUPILS at a Burnley high school must improve their behaviour, Ofsted inspectors have said.

A surprise inspection at Shuttleworth College saw the behaviour of some students described as ‘low level disruption’.

Ofsted praised the school’s management but said an improvement must be made to some low levels of punctuality and attendance.

The watchdog told the school it ‘required improvement’ in 2012 with follow up inspections to tak place as this part of the improvement process.

Lead inspector Sally Kenyon said the school had issues to overcome but that there were no difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff. She added that Ofsted considered leadership and management to be good.

She said: “Behaviour in some classes is not good enough. In a few lessons, inspectors observed students slouching over desks, having their own conversations and yawning. Some work in exercise books is untidy, which reflects students’ poor attitudes to learning and low expectations of teachers. Low level disruption is more common in the lower sets.”

However she also added that inspectors observed some good behaviour in lessons and none was inadequate.

She said: “Where behaviour is better, there is a disciplined classroom ethos and strong working relationship between the teacher and students.”

Deputy headteacher Paul Thompson said: “[The report] shows we are moving forward, though we know we still have things to do.”