LESS than a year after being threatened with closure, a school has celebrated praise from Ofsted inspectors.

In February, Corbridge Middle School was one of 16 schools in the west of the county earmarked to close as part of Northumberland County Council’s radical plans for education.

Since the decision was overturned in April, the school has continued to make improvements and was rated as ‘good’ during a recent short inspection.

A letter to the school praised the leadership of senior members of staff, and said the school had ‘improved significantly overall’.

It is recommended that a section 5 inspection be carried out next time at the school, meaning Ofsted would come back and carry out a full two-day inspection.

Corbridge headteacher Jane Kennedy said: “It is wonderful that Ofsted has recognised that our school continues to go from strength to strength.

“This time last year, we were still waiting for the feedback from Hadrian Learning Trust’s informal consultation on changing their age range to 11-18 and we were about to go through the ‘Consultation in the West’ which could have resulted in our school closing.

“Throughout the consultations, we kept our focus on our pupils and were delighted to achieve such good SATs results, continue to do so much enrichment and thrive.

“During the consultations and the inspections,the feedback from the parents and children has been incredible.” Following the results of the inspection, Mrs Kennedy wrote to all parents to say the emphasis remained on doing the best for each pupil. She said: “We are not complacent and we know there are still many ways in which we can continue to improve.”