A PREDICTED improvement in exam results this summer will be the catalyst to Tavistock College coming out of special measures, principal Helen Salmon this week said, following the latest 'satisfactory' monitoring report from Ofsted inspectors.

Mrs Salmon is expecting the college to be out of special measures later this year although the monitoring report still highlights work to be done.

Seventy per cent of Year 11 pupils taking an early entry English language GCSE in November achieved grade C or above which is 14% up on last year and the principal hopes the summer exams will show a similar improvement.

'All but ten pupils took the exam and the results are encouraging,' she said.

'I know this is one subject but I am confident that the exam results this year will be considerably better across the board than last year.'

Tavistock College was placed in special measures in January 2010 after a report showed weaknesses in leadership, students' achievement, teaching and monitoring of students' performance.

Ofsted said there was still variation in achievement between subjects and senior leaders at the school were aware of the need to improve progress in maths, science, food technology and textiles. The inspectors also highlighted that too much inadequate teaching still remained at the school although the proportion of lessons in which teaching was good or better had improved.

But the report praised the leadership of the school which had been strengthened by the addition of two new senior leaders. This was impacting on various aspects including the teaching, structure of the school day, target setting, behaviour, the atmosphere of the school and relationships between teachers and students.

There was a clear and accurate view of the college's strengths and weaknesses and the development plan had been revised and addressed the areas in need of improvement, inspectors said.

Mrs Salmon said the leadership team, from September, would be eight instead of the four it was previously, and a new special educational needs co-ordinator would also be joining in the autumn, as this was one of the areas of concern when the school was placed into special measures.

'I am pleased that Ofsted has recognised that the leadership and management are good,' she said.

'Now that these have been secured we hope to see an accelerated improvement and certainly the next monitoring visit in July will be crucial.

She said the college had been going through a big recruitment process and some appointments had been temporary over the past year, but it was a case of getting the right people in the right places: 'We now have a really high quality team which will drive everything forward,' she said.

'The final monitoring visit by Ofsted will be in the autumn and after that we hope to come out of special measures. It could be even earlier if the exam results are good.'