SATURDAY detentions and new teaching systems have been introduced to improve a secondary school judged inadequate by Ofsted.

Northallerton School and Sixth Form was placed in special measures in March after Ofsted deemed it to be inadequate in all areas.

The school has since appointed the Areté Learning Trust as the preferred academy sponsor and in its last monitoring visit, Ofsted acknowledged that great strides had been made by the leadership team, supported by North Yorkshire County Council.

These include significant changes brought in by new principal, Chris Drew.

The school now has a house system to drive extra-curricular activity, new ways of teaching, changes to the curriculum, a new head boy and girl and prefects to be ambassadors for the school.

Mr Drew has also set up a parents’ views group, banned term-time holidays and introduced Saturday detention.

Mr Drew says he is firm but fair and wants to build a sense of pride in the school.

Already, he says, students have a spring in their step.

“A school isn’t just about reading and writing,” he said. “It’s about how to be a good citizen, about being engaged, about high expectations. “We have wonderful, brilliant students here with great potential.”

Mr Drew was previously at the King’s Academy in Middlesbrough where he was head for ten years, taking the school from the bottom to the top of the local league table.

Before that he worked in the independent sector.

He said: “I came here for the challenge of taking the school out of special measures and making it the best it can be.”