A secondary school where pupils are “happy” and leaders have created a “calm environment” has been praised by the education watchdog.

The Bridge Academy in Laburnum Street, Hackney, received Ofsted's second-highest ‘good’ rating earlier this year, retaining the status from its previous full inspection in 2013.

The education watchdog visited the mixed secondary school and sixth form on February 22 and February 23 and found that leaders “ensure that their guiding principles of kindness, hard work and integrity are central to the school’s culture”.

Principal Chris Brown said that the report was “extremely pleasing” and thanked parents and carers for their support throughout the inspection.

The school was commended by inspectors for having “developed a calm and orderly environment where pupils are safe”.

They described incidents of bullying at the school as “rare” and said that when they did occur they were addressed “effectively” by staff.

The latest report by the education watchdog added that “pupils behave very well in the school and are happy”.

The school’s ‘cultural-capital’ days, where students visit museums, art galleries and other attractions, were also praised in the report.

Safeguarding procedures, staff health and wellbeing and the school’s careers programmes were also identified as areas in which The Bridge Academy excelled.

But leaders were told by inspectors that they should “develop the expertise” of all teachers so that any gaps in pupil’s understanding are “routinely” addressed.

Inspectors found that “on occasion, teaching does not clarify pupils’ misunderstandings clearly”, resulting in a small number of pupils not committing new knowledge to their long-term memory.

Principal Chris Brown said: “Staff and students were exceptional throughout the inspection, fully demonstrating our values of hard work, integrity and kindness.

“It was fantastic to see how proud students are of the academy, and it is extremely pleasing that this is reflected so fulsomely in the report.

“I would also like to thank parents and carers for their support both during the inspection and throughout my time at Bridge.

“We never stop trying to get better and are already working on our next steps to ensure that we provide a truly world-class education for Hackney children.”