One of South Derbyshire's largest schools, John Port School, in Etwall, will change its name when it becomes part of an academy trust, as part of improvements to the following a poor Ofsted report.

John Port School is expected to become part of the Spencer Academies Trust, based in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, in 2018, after which it will be called John Port Spencer Academy.

The Etwall school, which was originally called John Port Grammar School in the 1950s, but was changed to John Port School in 1965 when it was amalgamated with the adjacent Etwall Secondary School. It will be the first name change in more than 50 years.

The school, which has more than 2,000 pupils, making it also one of the largest in the country, was placed in special measures by Ofsted inspectors and an interim executive board set about coming up with an action plane under education expert, Sir Barry Day, according to our sister title, the Derby Telegraph.

This resulted in the Spencer Academies Trust taking responsibility for the strategic and operational running of the school from September 1, with new principal Karen Squire in place.

A letter to parents from the chairman of governors, Peter Marples, and academy trust chief executive, Paul West, have informed them of the name change.

It also said: "We have addressed the issues that the recent Ofsted inspection raised concerning safeguarding, and have made a commitment to deliver a curriculum that is fit for purpose, driven by high quality teaching and learning, with robust and effective assessment and feedback.

John Port School in Etwall could be expanding its numbers of pupils
John Port School in Etwall could be expanding its numbers of pupils

"We are confident that our trust has the capacity to bring rapid and sustained improvement to John Port, and we will be making investment across all areas and aspects of the school, in particular, developing systems and people to ensure the highest possible quality of leadership and teaching.

"The change of name respects the decades of quality education that the school has given to the community, and reflects the start of a new era, as John Port becomes a member of our family of schools."

The trust has said that it intends to hold local events so members of the trust can meet with parents, and share ideas and ambition for the local and wider community in the near future.

Following the poor Ofsted report in the summer, head teacher Chris Sainsbury was suspended and later resigned.

The interim executive board, which was appointed in November 2016 after half of the governing body had resigned, stepped down from its role at the end of October.

At that point, Sir Barry said: "John Port is now in an excellent position to move forward to become the outstanding school it has the capacity to become. The pupils deserve nothing less."