Mystery over school head's future

Mr Edworthy has not been at the school for the last two weeks. A newsletter to the parents of the 420 pupils said he was on sick leave.

When the Observer contacted the school, however, a reporter was told staff did not expect Mr Edworthy to return.

The inspection by the Office for Standards in Education, which took place at the end of May, found leadership and management by the headteacher and other staff unsatisfactory.

The report says: "Senior manager have not been sufficiently effective in securing improvements."

Standards in teaching were also described as unsatisfactory and inconsistencies between year groups were highlighted.

Concern over the lack of any improvement since the last inspection featured heavily.

The school's statement to parents included this comment from the chair of governors, the Rev David Frost: "The staff and governors have already started to work on an action plan to deal with these problems.

"The Local Education Authority is also producing an action plan so that it can support the school in the most effective way.

"Both plans will be sent to OfSTED in October, and there will be regular inspections of the school to check on the progress being made."