STAFF and governors at Callington Community College have welcomed a positive report following a recent Ofsted monitoring inspection into the progress which has been made by the academy over the past three months after being placed in special measures earlier in the year.

The report, from the chief inspector of education, children's services and skills, highlighted the improvements which have been made by the academy since being placed into special measures in March and concluded that leaders and governors had made a good start in addressing the issues identified by Ofsted.

In a letter to the principal Sean Morris, the chief inspector Lee Northern praised the academy for focusing on putting essential steps in place to ensure long-term sustainable improvement, rather than adopting a series of quick fixes.

He said: 'As a result of the actions taken since the inspection, there is a much clearer sense of purpose and direction. You have placed a strong focus on empowering leaders at all levels to take ownership and responsibility for improvement.'

The letter also commended the actions which had been taken to improve the effectiveness of safeguarding, including the introduction of a new code of conduct for staff and improvements to safeguarding policies and the development of partnerships with other colleges.

It also acknowledged the positive impact of changes to the college's governing body, which, it said, had brought improvements to the overall balance of governors' expertise and experience.

While the letter recognised that further work needed to be done to fully establish a culture of safeguarding, Mr Northern said that the academy had made a 'promising start' in addressing the issues it faces.

The positive findings were echoed in a report from Sir David Carter, the regional schools commissioner for the South West, who visited the college in June. His report also highlighted the improvements which had been made since the Ofsted inspection and commended the sensible, focused and structured improvement plan being implemented by the academy.

Sir David had decided that the college did not need to become a sponsored academy, in the expectation that the college will be able to move out of special measures within a year. Instead, he has commissioned support from Ivybridge Community College to support Callington in its improvement. He also added a National Leader of Governance to the governing body to support its further development following its re-structuring.

While acknowledging that the special measures judgement had been difficult for the academy to deal with, Sir David said that it had retained its inner confidence and belief that it could deliver an 'outstanding' education for the children who attended it.

Welcoming the positive findings of the monitoring inspection, principal Sean Morris said: 'We are pleased with the positive response to the work we have done since March and look forward to working with all of our partners to set the college back on the road to outstanding.'