Ofsted inspectors have said a Norwich high school has improved from satisfactory to good in the space of two years.

Hewett High School said the report showed the success of its innovative system of appointing three leaders at the helm.

Tom Samain is overall headteacher, responsible for the school's strategic direction, and is supported by senior associate head Rob Anthony and associate head Sue Raywood.

In 2011, inspectors said the school was 'satisfactory,' a category since re-named 'requires improvement', but following last month's inspection they declared it 'good' across the board. They wrote: 'From a typically low, and sometimes very low, starting point students make good progress and achieve well.

'The proportion of students reaching five A*-C grades, including English and mathematics, while still below the national average, is rising steadily.'

They also said behaviour was good and 'exclusions and persistent absence have fallen dramatically due to the school's good work'.

They also pointed to the school's success in rapidly closing the gap between the 48pc of disadvantaged students who receive the pupil premium, and others, using small group sessions, holiday revision and one-to-one tuition.

Mr Samain said the report was 'an illustration that a new approach to governance and leadership had got some very special results'.

He said: 'It requires a really high level of understanding between the players. Fortunately that is what we have created at the Hewett over the last few years. This is very much a joint enterprise.'

He added: 'There is one little magic sentence in the report that we treasure – not only do the students achieve well, they become very good citizens. That's something in the current climate that we really need to treasure.'