A SWINDON school is celebrating after being rated Good in every category of its latest Ofsted report.

This is the first time that Dorcan Academy has received this rating across the board and shows a major bounce back for the educational hub.

The school was judged as Inadequate in 2015 then Required Improvement (with a Good rating only for the Leadership category) in 2018's inspection and follow-up monitoring visit in 2020.

It seems inspectors were more impressed this time, though. They had a look around before the summer holidays and have now filed their findings.

Headteacher Sherryl Bareham said: "You might ask how we have done it? Well, there is no single action, no gigantic program, no miracle scenario, no killer invention, and no lucky break.

"The past seven years has been a journey. Our dedicated staff have worked incredibly hard with great resilience, hard work, determination, and perseverance to achieve this result

"We worked hard and we maintained the unwavering belief that our students can do anything that we are able to teach them and that there is no ceiling to their achievement.

"For us, Good still isn’t good enough. Our destination is Outstanding, which we have planned to achieve for our next visit in four years’ time.

"We wish to thank all our staff, students, parents, trustees and friends who have believed in us and supported us on our journey.

"This is a remarkable achievement which will have a significant impact on future generations of children who attend The Dorcan Academy."

South Swindon MP Robert Buckland added: "I am delighted that the hard work and efforts of all of the dedicated team at Dorcan Academy have been recognised and are reflected in their most recent Ofsted report.

“I am in regular contact with the head and I enjoy visiting the school, where I am able to witness first-hand the hard work and dedication of both staff and pupils.

“The academy has successfully dealt with many challenges, especially during the Covid pandemic. During this difficult time, the staff continued to go above and beyond to support the mental and physical well-being of all pupils, working hard to raise morale.

“The school has an excellent SEN support team, and a huge amount of work is carried out at the school on raising aspirations.

"It has built up excellent links with local universities, with pupils regularly visiting these universities and taking part in a wide range of educational activities."

The full report will be published on the Ofsted website ofsted.gov.uk in the near future.