ORMISTON Park Academy has won high praise from Ofsted after inspectors visited the school for the first time.

It was a monitoring visit and not a full inspection, so the school was not given a grade, however, inspectors did say that the progress made towards raising standards at the school was “outstanding”.

Thirty eight per cent of students at the school, in Nethan Drive, got five GCSE grades at C or above including English and maths.

This is above the Government benchmark, but below the national average, however, Ofsted said the progress made by pupils was again, “outstanding”.

It said: “ In 2010, students made outstanding progress in their learning. Exceptionally good progress was made in English.

“The proportion of students who attained five or more good GCSEs in 2010 was significantly above the national average. The proportion of students who achieved five or more A* to C grades, including English and mathematics, was below average.

However, the proportion of pupils who achieved five or more GCSEs, including English and mathematics, surpassed the academy’s own challenging target.”

Touching on the curriculum, it added: “The academy has adopted a highly responsive approach to developing its curriculum to enable students to achieve well. The curriculum is well organised and extremely imaginative in both key stages.”

Head teacher Tess Walker is thrilled with the letter from the government watchdog.

She said: “It is a privilege for me to lead such a dedicated and committed team of staff and such a talented, focused and aspirant set of students.

“The future really is bright and we are overwhelmed with joy. Our students and community can now be rest assured that their local school is an outstanding school and that there really is no better school to want to send their children, than Ormiston Park Academy.”