A SECONDARY school is continuing to take steps towards getting out of special measures, Ofsted inspectors have said.

In the fourth monitoring report since De La Salle High School in Eccleston was branded inadequate in December 2014, it was noted "leaders and managers are taking effective action".

The school's pupil achievement, leadership and management and quality of teaching had all come under fire when the school was placed in special measures.

It appointed John Toal as head teacher from September 2015 and he was tasked with continuing improvements after interim bosses took charge during the last academic year.

After the latest visit, inspectors pointed out "the new head teacher continues to provide clear direction for the school" and noted senior leaders are "becoming more confident" in their roles.

They added: "School leaders are now holding their colleagues to account more effectively for the performance of pupils" with "regular accountability meetings".

It was said the school has a "greater readiness to challenge and tackle underperformance".

However, inspectors pointed out that there was "no clear evaluation of the performance of all groups of pupils" meaning leaders are "not always clear enough about the overall performance trends".

It was noted senior leaders and governors have formulated a future staffing structure to address a budget deficit to come into force this September 2016, with a number of staff opting to take voluntary redundancy.

In terms of quality of teaching inspectors found it to have "continued to improve overall" with "evidence of strong practice in a number of areas".

However, it was stated "some poor practice does, however, persist" and inspectors noted in some teaching,

pupils were "not given appropriately challenging work and as a result, progress is not strong".

Pupils were found generally to "show positive attitudes towards their learning, although to a lesser extent where the quality of teaching is not as effective as it needs to be".

Inspectors added that the "progress and attainment of pupils in the school are improving" with gaps narrowing between progress of disadvantaged pupils and their peers.