KING HENRY VIII School's recent inspection says that pupils performance in public examinations is inconsistent and the aspirations of boys is poor.

Estyn, the Welsh Government appointed inspectors revealed that the school's overall performance was 'adequate' but indicated that the prospects for improvement were good because the headteacher and senior leadership team provided a clear sense of direction.

However, the inspector Jackie Gapper pointed out that the performance of boys needed to be improved and that the school needed to develop skills development across the curriculum, in particular in improve pupils' reading and writing.

The inspector noted in her report that there were many good features about the school, which included the behaviour of pupils and their positive attitudes to learning and developing their knowledge and understanding which provides for an inclusive ethos.

However, Mrs Gapper pointed out that the school is inconsistent in its performance in public examinations saying, "The results are often below the average for similar schools and the differences between the performances of boys and girls are much wider than Welsh averages."

The school has been told to make improvements in performance in key indicators in key stages three and four and have been told that the provision for skills across the curriculum is not yet developed enough. The inspecting team noted that the quality of marking varies too much between and within subjects.

The report details that in the core subjects of the national curriculum, King Henry is just above the Welsh average, although the inspector noted that the school's performance had declined over the last three years.

Mrs Gapper said: " The school's performance in mathematics, English and science has fluctuated from year to year. In 2010, at level five, mathematics performance was in the top half of that for similar schools, while science was in the bottom half and English in the bottom quarter.

"In both key stages three and four, girls usually attain higher standards than boys. In 2010, the difference in the performance of boys and girls was considerably wider than the Welsh average."

The report indicates that the pupils are confident and articulate and when questioned as they give detailed explanations and showed a good level of knowledge and understanding.

"Many pupils show clear thinking skills in understanding key concepts and making predictions from a range of sources," added Mrs Gapper.

"Most pupils write well for a wide variety of purposes and audiences and make good use of subject-specific vocabulary. The children write accurately and at length however the written work of a few pupils, particularly boys, shows weaker presentation skills, more limited responses and errors in spelling and grammar."

The report acknowledges that incidents of bullying are rare and pupils say that the school deals with any allegations effectively. The report acknowledges that pupils are considerate and were courteous to each other.

The inspectors noted the contribution that the school council made to school life and the its involvement in making decisions. The inspector welcomed the involvement the school council had in being influential in helping improve the school uniform, promoting healthy eating and opening a coffee shop for use by the sixth form.

But the inspector also noted that there was not a common approach to assessment, especially as the quality of marking varied too much between, and within departments.

Mrs Gapper said: "Many teachers mark books regularly and give informative and constructive comments to help pupils improve. However in a minority of books, marking is superficial and does not give pupils enough guidance on how to improve the standard of their work."

The inspector concluded: "Despite standards only being adequate, leadership is good because the headteacher Nicholas Oaten and his senior leadership team provide the school with a clear and well-communicated sense of direction based on a detailed and accurate assessment of the school's strengths and weaknesses.

"Over the last two years, Mr Oaten and his colleagues have introduced more rigour and consistency into the management and organisation of the school. This has contributed to the recent improvements in standards including significant improvements to the school's ethos and culture.

"The headteacher has successfully based the further development of the school on openness and transparency, and the process has gained the support of all stakeholders."

The school are required to produce an action plan that shows how it will address the Estyn recommendations.

Neither the school or the governing body were prepared to comment on the report