A Richmond secondary school has received a ‘good’ Ofsted rating after being “galvanised” by its new principal.

Richmond Park Academy, in Park Avenue, was inspected on December 7 and 8 in 2017.

The report said: “The new principal has galvanised the school community with his high aspirations to improve outcomes for pupils.”

It also praised him for being “tenacious” and inspiring staff.

Mr Mundy-Castle, who has been principal for 18months, said: "Ofsted’s judgement is a recognition of the rapid improvement that Richmond Park Academy has made over the last two years and reflects the confidence that the inspecting team have that the improvements can be sustained by the leadership team.

Richmond and Twickenham Times:

Pupils engagement with classes were found to have improved due to the new rewards system, which recognises good behaviour.

Overall, inspectors found that pupils enjoy being in the school, and the quality of teaching and learning was especially strong in sixth form.

A-level results have improved, and GCSE results also improved by 23 per cent from the previous year.

However, before the school can be ‘outstanding’, pupils falling behind need more help.

The report said: “In some lessons, teaching assistants are not used effectively. As a result, pupils who need additional support are not challenged to extend their learning.

“Teachers’ expectations of what pupils are capable of achieving are not consistently high.

“As a result, pupils are not always moved on quickly in their learning.”

Mr Mundy-Castle added: "This is an extremely positive report throughout which is encouraging.

"We look forward to addressing the observations regarding areas for improvement going  forward and will bring the same vigour to improving those areas that we have shown in the last two years."