SPRINGFIELDS Academy in Calne has failed to meet two national minimum standards in a social care inspection by Ofsted and been rated as adequate.

The two standards missed by the academy related to monitoring of the academy by independent visitors and the acting principal and the quality of residential accommodation.

The academy was rated as good in two of four areas during the March inspection but two adequate ratings brought the rating for the overall report down.

The concerns raised by the report didn’t prevent the academy, a school for children with complex learning, emotional, social and behavioural difficulties, recording their best ever GCSE results on Thursday.

Principal Jon Hamp, named as the permanent replacement to Trystan Williams in May, said: “In terms of the Ofsted inspection it’s obviously not a grading we would aspire to but the key thing for us is that pupil outcomes were acknowledged as good and safety is good, to get that was very, very important.

“This summer’s academic results show how well cared for the pupils are, you don’t achieve your best ever set of results from anything but a strong position.

“In terms of physical provision we have maintenance staff currently on that, we have put new facilities in place to improve, as Ofsted standards rise we have to rise too.

“We will do everything we can to get it to where we want it to be and there’s a huge amount of work going on in the main building as we speak.

“Much as welfare inspections are of great importance it is also important to note that the overall judgement of the academy remains outstanding.”

The academy, which provides residential accommodation for up to 72 pupils ranging from nine to 16 years, has four accommodation areas on site. Pupils return home at weekends and during academy holidays.

Ofsted reported that pupils enjoyed staying at the academy and felt well cared and safe but there were 'a number of shortfalls in the quality of some residential accommodation'.

These included communal areas, bedrooms and bathing and showering facilities which require redecoration and refurbishment.

Ofsted acknowledged that improvement had been made since a comprehensive study of residential provision in 2014 but their implementation had been too slow.

Despite the issues in the report, Springfields Academy saw their year 11 pupils leave with 161 qualifications this summer, their highest number of qualifications to date.

More than 42 per cent of the year group were in the bottom two per cent nationally for reading and/or spelling upon entry to the academy and have made significant improvements in their literacy skills.

For the 19 students, their reading ages have improved by an average of 16.9 months for reading per pupil and 23.3 months for spelling per pupil.