THE education of girls in GCSE English and maths needs to improve, the school inspectorate for Wales has told a Newport high school.

In its annual inspection Estyn judged performance and the prospects for improvement at Lliswerry High School as 'adequate', out of possible categories 'excellent', 'good', 'adequate' or 'unsatisfactory'.

The inspectorate praised the 1,154-pupil school for its inclusive and supportive ethos, and said it had shown a significant reduction in the number of pupils leaving without qualifications.

Estyn found there was effective support for pupils with additional learning needs and those who spoke English as a second language.

But there was weak performance in maths and English at GCSE, especially among girls, and Estyn said the quality of teaching in a minority of classes was "adequate at best".

With 30 per cent of its students speaking English as a second language, those pupils "make very good progress and often achieve at a high level" and for those who arrive at school and don't speak English at all, they make good and "often very good" progress in acquiring English language skills.

But many pupils' writing contains too many errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar, it said, and in a minority of lessons pupils "respond to low expectations by producing careless and untidy work".

Performance in Welsh second language from Years 7 to 11 has shown a downward trend and attendance has fallen below expected levels.

"The number of pupils excluded for misbehaviour remains relatively high," said the inspector's report.