GUISELEY School has abandoned plans to become a multi-academy trust after an Ofsted report found it needed improvement.

The school - which had been working to turn around the fortunes of a failing Bradford secondary - has itself been found lacking in many areas after the latest inspection.

Now it will no longer be sponsoring Grange Technology College in Bradford - which has partnered with Guiseley since it was put in special measures last year. The partnership was to have led to a multi-academy trust - but that plan had to be scrapped following Guiseley's own disappointing report.

Now senior management at Guiseley are launching a new behaviour policy and will be developing a school improvement action plan. A parent information evening to outline the new plan will be held on January 18.

The Ofsted report found that Guiseley, which has a lower than average proportion of disadvantaged pupils, needed improvement in five out of six areas.

In a statement on its website the school says: "Key areas of strength were recognised by the inspection team. The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare was considered to be 'good.' Arrangements for safeguarding were felt to be 'effective' as was careers guidance and information. The curriculum was considered to be, 'broad and balanced' throughout the school and 6th form teaching was recognised as a strength."

But despite receiving a 'Good' rating for its sixth form provision inspectors have given a 'Requires Improvement' grade to the other areas - effectiveness of leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare; and outcomes for pupils. It has been given an overall 'Requires Improvement' rating.

In the statement Chair of Governors Anne Lawton, Headteacher Paul Morrissey, and Head of School Paul Clayton say: "The school leadership team and the Governing body were disappointed with what was felt to be an over-emphasis on the progress data for 2016-17."

They add: "We had a high entry of pupils taking the more challenging and academic ebacc, which includes History, Geography and a Modern Foreign Language. Ofsted would not recognise that progress data for this year was impacted by this, compared with other schools locally and nationally which entered a smaller percentage of students. Despite the high level of accuracy in the school’s predictions, the inspection team was also unwilling to take into account the positive predictions existing for the current year 11 cohort which forecast improvements in both attainment and progress measures.

They stress: "We wish to assure parents that despite some of the concerns the school leadership team and governing body have around the inspection and outcomes, we are fully committed to making the improvements required to ensure that pupils receive a consistent and high quality education at Guiseley School."