Just months after being told it had 'serious weaknesses', Caister High School has been praised for making improvements.

The school, which later this year will become Creative Education Academies Trust-sponsored, has seen change since the last full Ofsted inspection in May; four governors, including the chair, have resigned, six members of staff have left and Norfolk County Council has suspended the school's delegated budget.

But in a new monitoring report Ofsted inspector Paul Lawrence said Caister was showing improvement.

In a letter to headteacher George Denby, he said: 'You and your senior team have used the start of a new school year as an opportunity to emphasise high expectations to the whole school community.

'Initiatives to improve marking and to enhance pupils' engagement in lessons are new, but there is some evidence that they are already starting to make a positive difference.'

He said school leaders had demonstrated a 'clear determination' to get the school's Ofsted rating up and that this summer's GCSE grades suggested hard work was paying off.

'The headline GCSE figure of 55pc of students gaining five A* to C grades including English and mathematics represents a marked improvement on the previous year.

'The improvement in attainment in English was of particular note.

The results were in line with the school's own predictions of its performance, and this reflects an improving rigour and reliability of assessment procedures at key stage 4.'

Mr Lawrence said the plan to improve could be made better by setting out specific milestones the school wanted to reach over the coming year, and there was also a need for detailed plans to showing how it intended to improve the performance of boys and of students eligible for pupil premium funding.

Praising the new governors, he added: 'The new governing body has demonstrated a reinvigorated approach to monitoring the work of the school and has started to provide necessary support and challenge.'