THE headteacher of a Gwent school where inspectors found a decline in two core subjects says she and staff are working hard to turn the situation around.

Claire Price, who started at Chepstow School in January, said she wants every pupil at her school to reach their potential.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

She spoke in the wake of an Estyn report based on an inspection in January that found standards in English and Maths have declined at the school over the past five years.

Ms Price said the report had no surprises and was an accurate historical account of where the school was at the time.

The school has looked at the report's recommendation and has a detailed action plan, she said.

Measures include increased staffing for English and Maths, while children that don't make the progress expected over half a term will be identified with "appropriate learning interventions" put in place.

She said that parents will, from September, will recieve a "much more frequent gauge of how their child is doing,".

"Each child will have a graph of where they started, where they should be and where they are on that plot," she said.

Three new staff posts have been created to focus on more able and talented learners who will work with students in the wider community from primary level to "Oxbridge and beyond".

"Our 5 A*s to C (in GCSE) are well above the Welsh average. Our results aren't bad, they're just not as good as they could be," she said.

Ms Price said the school wants to be a band one school but she said she would measure the school's success by the success of the pupils.

She said great things were happening at the school - the sixth-form has raised more than £2000 during a charity week,  while a recent fundraising fashion show was also held at the school.

She said: "We're going to be a world class school and the only way you do that is making sure every single child has his or her potential fully reached."

"I'm passionate that the young people in this school absolutely deserve the best - they are tremendous."