STOCKLEY Academy’s new chief has revealed how he intends to take the failing school out of special measures within a year.

Leo Gilbert gave up the headship at Outstanding rated Harris Academy in Merton to join the failing secondary school on Park View Road in May.

He has now informed parents of a twenty point action plan, in which he names key subjects English and maths, as well as humanities and technology, as areas of focus in the upcoming year.

The school is taking action after an Ofsted inspection in June deemed achievement and teaching there inadequate.

Speaking to the Hillingdon Times, Mr Gilbert said: “The results from the report were a clear indication that things had gone wrong at the school.

“It is quite frankly scandalous that so few students were achieving higher grades.”

He added: “Schools are normally in special measures between 18 months and two years.

“I aim for us to be out in one.”

Mr Gilbert admitted teaching, which was judged by Ofsted to require improvement, had “drifted” and promised to provide strong leadership to turn it around.

“There was an allowance for things to drift, it wasn’t tightened up anymore,” he said.

“Some of our staff here will continue to always do a fantastic job, but if you don’t have that clarity of expectation then some, unfortunately, won’t.”

He targeted students’ behaviour by introducing a uniform in September. A school bag was not welcomed by hundreds of people who took to change.org to protest.

Mr Gilbert said: “The attitude a student displays through the way they dress when they come to school is representative of the way they behave towards their education.

“I wanted to show that the expectation had been raised about the way they will approach their education, and the easiest way of doing that was to smarten them up.”

He also created house teams, named after established universities such as Oxford, Cambridge and nearby Brunel.

“I wanted something for the students to aspire to, and this way their potential is in front of them every day,” said Mr Gilbert.

Stockley Academy is Mr Gilbert’s third headship. Frances Coomb Academy, Watford, saw an 18 per cent increase in students achieving five A*-C GCSE grades within his first year as principal there.