A HIGH school has maintained its 'good' rating after a visit from inspectors.

Ofsted inspectors visited Sir John Thursby Community College in Burnley and noted that the school has maintained its rating from June 2016.

Inspectors said students feel safe in school, that they have “good relationships with staff and that they are well cared for”.

The team inspectors identified that staff have “high expectations of what our students can achieve” and that “teachers have good subject knowledge.”

The school said the report describes how Sir John Thursby has a "highly ambitious curriculum in Key Stage 4 where over 70 per cent of students study English, maths, science, a modern foreign language and either geography or history (key gateway subjects for college, university and employment) compared to 40% of students across the country."

The team of inspectors also recognised how Sir John Thursby wants its students to experience life and culture beyond school by arranging trips to the theatre, sporting events and museums.

The school’s safeguarding was praised with leaders putting pupils’ interests first and by identifying that, “the school has a team of workers to ensure that pupils and families get the support that they need.”

As with a number of schools, Sir John Thursby’s decision to opt for a three-year Key Stage 4 to support students GCSE and vocational qualifications was challenged by Ofsted, who felt that the current two-year Key Stage 3 curriculum was too narrow and did not match the breadth and ambition of the National Curriculum.

Headteacher Rob Browning said: “We are extremely pleased with our report that identifies that we are a good school.

"Students, parents, staff and governors work hard to ensure our young people get a great education inside and outside of the classroom and I would like to thank them for all their time and effort.

“A new inspection framework came into place in September 2019 that appears to favour a three year Key Stage 3 curriculum model.

"Despite good outcomes and the fact that all our students from last year are either in full time education, employment or training, Ofsted feel that we need to strengthen our curriculum in Key Stage 3.

"We already had plans to look at our curriculum and specifically the length of Key Stage 3 and 4 and we have been revising our Key Stage 3 curriculum to include more breadth and depth.

"As with many other schools we are reviewing the two year Key Stage 3 model and exploring our options for next year.”