THE headteacher of Holmer Green Senior School has set the record straight regarding rumours about the future of the school, which he said is moving forward.

The secondary school was visited by Ofsted in January and downgraded from a 'good' to a 'requires improvement' rating.

Since then a number of changes have been taking place and potentially damaging rumours have circulated, but headteacher Mike Jones said the school is working hard to improve.

In the latest newsletter he said: "With such a strong team in place I am confident there are no barriers to prevent us returning to a 'good' Ofsted judgement by the end of the coming academic year with a fixed determination to achieve an 'outstanding' verdict within the next three years."

The newsletter confirmed 15 teachers are leaving and Mr Jones said most of the English department are retiring or resigning.

He said: "A lot of my English teachers are leaving. It is not a terrible thing for the school. We have got to develop the leadership of English and move it forward to address the challenges."

In September, 14 new teachers are starting, including five English teachers. Current head of the English department, Mrs Dobbs, is staying on part time to teach communications and English.

Mr Jones said he has been working with agencies to recruit teachers, including five to six from Canada, where the quality of teacher training is very high.

Mr Jones said there is a shortage of high quality teachers who teach good or outstanding lessons in the UK, which is why he had to look further afield, but reiterated the school is fully staffed.

He said: "I want to make it very clear my best staff are actually staying.

"My best staff are taking on the leadership roles- next year we are really energised to move forward."

A new deputy headteacher, Michelle Newman, started at the beginning of June as part of the new restructured leadership at the school.

Following rumours about children and staff being locked in during the school day, he said this was "absolute nonsense."

He said they have made the school site more secure and a side entrance is locked so members of the public do not have access to the back of the school, but the front gates leading to reception are still open.

Mr Jones said: "To say we are locking people in is absolute nonsense. Someone is trying to stir up bad feeling."

But he added: "I am really positive about things at the moment. I am very pleased about the new recruits."