A school in St Albans is taking "effective action" to tackle areas requiring improvement, according to a monitoring inspection from Ofsted.

The Samuel Ryder Academy, in Drakes Drive, was deemed as “requiring improvement” when it was inspected by the education watchdog in April.

At that time the school had a roll of 424 pupils aged between the ages of four and 19. It received the rating because teaching was not consistently good and the sixth form needed requirement. 

Since the April inspection, the school has increased the number of heads of year due to the rising number of students on roll. It also appointed a new chair of the governing body in September.

When the school was visited by Ofsted earlier this month, it was told it still needed to ensure it evaluated the impact of planned actions and also improved the quality of subject leadership.

The report commended the most recent exam results, which showed a marked improvement in the proportion of students achieving 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE, including exams in English and mathematics.

However, students’ attainment in some subjects remained well below the 2013 national average, including in product design, dance, geography, history and physical education.

The academy was told the teaching was improving and subject leaders were starting to have an impact.

Ofsted may carry out further visits before the next full inspection.