OFSTED says it's still concerned about a High Wycombe secondary school it rated inadequate after finding serious weaknesses.

Revisiting Sir William Ramsay's school, Ofsted said the school remained inadequate and it had serious weaknesses.

It said that leaders had made progress to improve the school, but more work was necessary for the category of concern to be removed.

Inspectors left Sir William Ramsay with an overall grade of inadequate in March 2023, because of ineffective safeguarding and the fact pupils use 'racist and homophobic language'.

READ MORE: Wycombe headteacher resigns as Ofsted inspector after Ruth Perry death

The mix-gender school, with more than 1,000 students, was praised for safeguarding now being effective.

Headteacher Paul Ramsey said he looks "forward to welcoming the inspectors back to the school in the near future to observe further progress."

Adding: "The Governing Body and Leadership Team welcome the report as the judgements made are extremely useful and will help us to refine and accelerate our plan for improvement."

In a letter dated April 25, 2023, inspector Linda Culling said the leaders are making progress towards the essential improvements needed in the school.

It reads: "You correctly identify that where there is stability in staffing, there are fewer disruptions to lessons. However, you know that this is not consistent enough across the school.

"In the lessons we visited, pupils worked in a calm and respectful atmosphere. You are aware that some unkind and derogatory language goes unchallenged. 

"While behaviour at breaktimes and lunchtimes is improving, there are still incidents of poor behaviour that need addressing more effectively.

"Curriculum implementation is improving because you have clarified and raised expectations for staff. You have introduced a common approach, which includes nonnegotiables that you expect all staff to include in every lesson.

"Where staff employed by the school are not meeting your expectations, you are taking robust and appropriate action to support them."

Ofsted also said the provision for pupils with SEND is slowly improving, as is the identification of their needs.

Inspector Linda Culling added: "Teachers are more aware of pupils’ specific needs and, where implementation is strong, they are beginning to adapt the curriculum to meet their needs. However, there 3 are important aspects of curriculum implementation that are not yet effective enough.

"The work to support the weakest readers is not sufficiently robust. While leaders accurately identify pupils’ reading ages, the strategies to support those who have fallen behind are not targeted precisely enough.

"You have established a period of silent reading at the start of each lesson. However, this time is not used effectively for those who find reading challenging. You have identified that staff need to be trained to teach phonics to support these pupils in the future."