Astor College for the Arts has been re-inspected by school’s regulator Ofsted.

The re-inspection, on Wednesday and Thursday last week, comes after Ofsted took a highly unusual step to apologise for the “inconvenience” caused by a previous inspection on March 26 and 27.

In May, when it was believed the first report would be published, the Mercury revealed that the 988-pupil secondary school was set to be rated poorly after the visit.

Days after the story broke, the school’s chief executive officer, Chris Russell, wrote a letter to parents and guardians.

He said: “I should like to inform you that the college is not in special measures.

“Ofsted have apologised for their shortcomings and the fact that their inspection was incomplete.

“A new team will be visiting the college in the near future.”

Despite requests from the Mercury, Ofsted has not revealed what went wrong with the initial inspection.

The lead inspector of the two-day visit was HMI Alan Taylor-Bennett.

A spokesman for Ofsted said: “Ofsted carries out more than 6,000 inspections of schools each year.

“In the vast majority of cases the quality of our inspection reports are accurate and robust.

“On the very rare occasion when an inspection or the report does not meet the high standards we expect, we take immediate action to secure the accuracy and quality of the inspection and the report.

“This may include a follow-up visit to a provider to reassess the inspection findings and judgement.”

A spokesman for Astor College said: “After an inspection there is a quality assurance procedure, which we would not wish to pre-empt.

“Until a report is published, there is nothing we can say.”

An inspection grade cannot not be confirmed until a report is published.