Staff and governors at a special school are “moving forward briskly” towards improvements, according to Ofsted.

Inspectors paid a monitoring visit to the 140-pupil Longley School in Dog Kennel Bank recently, after it rated as 3 – Requires Improvement three months ago.

A new headteacher has been appointed to start in summer 2014.

The latest report stated: “Leaders, staff and governors have contributed to the school improvement plan and all groups are moving forward briskly in putting the plan into action.

“Regular, accurate monitoring is helping leaders to evaluate the impact of actions and identify what their next steps should be.

“Recent lesson observations indicate a small rise in the proportion of good or better teaching and learning.

“Leaders are analysing strengths and weaknesses seen and using this as a sound basis for providing further training and coaching where appropriate.”