A SENIOR county councillor has expressed her delight with the progress being made at Wisbech s Queen s School – but she has warned that considerable challenges remain. Councillor Shona Johnstone, Cambridgeshire County Council s cabinet member for children

A SENIOR county councillor has expressed her delight with the progress being made at Wisbech's Queen's School - but she has warned that considerable challenges remain.

Councillor Shona Johnstone, Cambridgeshire County Council's cabinet member for children and young people's services, particularly praised the work of executive headteacher Tony Cooper, his staff and pupils at the school.

The school was placed in 'special measures' earlier this year following a critical inspection by OfSTED - the Office for Standards in Education. Shortly afterwards, the school's governing body was replaced with an interim executive board.

Cllr Johnstone, who visited the school last week, said: "The progress so far has been extremely impressive, particularly given how quickly it has been achieved and the enormity of the challenges the school faced.

"I was impressed by the determination of staff to provide the very best for pupils, and the strong and effective leadership of executive headteacher Tony Cooper.

"The pupils themselves have now started to become aware of what education the school can offer, and they have a large part to play in helping the school achieve this.

"But I am under no illusion that there is a tremendous amount of work still to do. It has made significant strides over the summer holiday and in the first five weeks of term, but it will be a long haul and no-one should expect instant success.