John of Gaunt headteacher Andy Packer is delighted his Trowbridge school has received a good rating from Ofsted after being told to make improvements last year.

The Ofsted report, following an inspection this month, praises the atmosphere at the Wingfield Road school, the standard of teaching, pupil achievement and leadership.

Last April, the body said the school required improvement. Mr Packer said that was an injustice to the efforts of his staff.

He said: “When you get a glowing report like this year’s, it is clear to see that there’s a real team effort at John of Gaunt and we are all very happy.

“When things don’t go your way, you can throw your toys out of the pram or move forwards and that’s what we did. We have sharpened our teaching practices and, despite us not agreeing with last April’s findings, the school is undoubtedly a better place.”

The school worked with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate and, when it was checked during a monitoring visit in July, was found to be operating at standards of the good rating.

Mr Packer said: “The school feels vindicated by these latest findings and I think the monitoring inspection and this report shows that last year’s assessment was miles wide of the mark.”

The school, with 1,264 pupils, is now looking to GCSE and A-level exams.

Mr Packer said: “Our focus now is bettering our exams results from last year, which were our best ever.”