Worst school gets second chance

A Leicestershire school that was named the worst in the country for both truancy and overall education has avoided being closed for good.

New College Leicester in the New Parks area, was "named and shamed" two years ago after a raft of problems.

But the previously-failing school has managed to turn itself around and will be taken out of special measures.

The school's executive principal David Kershaw said progress had been made by working together.

Tough challenges

"The staff, students, Local Authority and the Department for Education and Science have all been supporting each other to address some of the real challenges facing the school," said Mr Kershaw.

He added: "By working together we have been able to make real progress."

Just one in 10 pupils taking GCSEs at the school last year scored five grade Cs or better while the truancy rate was running at more than 10 times the national average.

New College Leicester had a truancy rate of 12.7% of half-day school sessions missed due to "unauthorised absence", while the national rate for secondary schools was 1.3%.

It was also bottom of the "value-added" table, which aims to show how much - or little - schools contribute to improving their pupils' results.