An “illogical” and “irrational” Ofsted report has left senior management at a school furious and pushed them to lodge an official complaint.

Staff, students and governors at Longhill High School , Rottingdean, have been left angered by a recent Ofsted inspection that the school says is inaccurate, inconsistent and was not carried out in an appropriate manner.

The inspection was carried out on October 22 and 23 and the school, which had a “good with outstanding features” rating during its last Ofsted inspection, was shocked to receive a report that rated it as Requires Improvement.

Haydn Stride, Longhill High School’s headmaster, said the verdict is surprising given that Longhill, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, achieved its best ever results after years of steadily increasing progress.

Mr Stride said: “Every recommendation and target from our last inspection report has been met or exceeded and we have had record results.

“Our attendance and our behaviour have both improved since we were rated as good.

“Our maths results are higher than the national average, our English results are on the national average and our science results are much higher than national average.

“And this is from a school whose intake has a higher number of pupil premium students than the national average.

"To tell us after these improvements, that we are no longer good, is unacceptable.

“Parents should be angry the hard work and dedication of students and staff has been tarnished in this manner.”

The school has made a formal complaint to Ofsted claiming serious procedural shortcomings and demanded a new inspection by a different team.

It has also contested the report with Tribal Group, the company that carried out the report under contract to Ofsted.

The headteacher added: “Throughout the visit all the comments from inspectors were exceedingly positive and at no point were any concerns raised that we would not maintain our good rating.

“For example, during the visit inspectors categorised student behaviour as good and excellent.

"To then write in the report that it requires improvement is, at very least, inconsistent.”

Chair of governors Martin Andrews was equally mystified and angered, saying: “This irrational and illogical report could have a devastating effect on the morale of staff and students.”

He added: “What makes this inspection even more questionable is that the inspection team stated we have outstanding management and quality assurance systems in place, that our safeguarding, child protection and safety systems are outstanding.

"I fail to understand the logic in their final assessment.”

Proud head Mr Stride thinks the damage will be done when they publish the report on Monday despite the complaint.

He added: “I know the staff, students and parents will be united in their refusal to accept this inaccurate judgement of their school.”