A SECONDARY school in Colchester has been given a “good” rating by Ofsted inspectors.

The Gilberd School was awarded the rating in all areas: Pupil achievement, quality of teaching, pupils’ behaviour and safety, and leadership and management.

In particular, it was praised for its consistently good GCSE maths results.

English results are also improving.

However, it fell short of being given the top rating of “outstanding”, with inspectors identifying teachers did not always set work to challenge all pupils in class and marking did not show them how to improve.

The 1,350-pupil school, in Highwoods, converted to academy status in March 2012.

At its last inspection, it was also judged to be “good”.

Headteacher Linda Exley said: “We are very pleased with this positive report and it reflects the hard work of our staff and governors in providing the best education possible for our students. We continue, however, to be selfcritical and are already working on the development areas identified in the report in order to improve even further in the future.”