replaced with an academy building with a capacity of 1,900 students. The application received planning permission from the council on 2 November 2010. Construction of the new buildings commenced in December 2010, and lasted for 18 months. Construction of the new building took place on what had been school fields. The new building was completed on time in June 2012, with students moving in at the start of the 2012/13 academic year in September 2012. This move was followed by the demolition of the now derelict buildings that had been vacated, followed by landscaping. On 7 June 2013 the new buildings were "officially" opened by comedian Hugh Dennis in a ceremony attended by senior bishops and the mayor of Littlehampton. Recent developments In 2011, Ofsted rated the school as "Satisfactory". But since 2012, pupils have achieved results significantly below the national and county average when it comes to GCSEs. In 2012, only 51 per cent earned five A*-C grades, including English and maths. In December 2013, it was placed in to special measures and on 31 December 2013, Steve Jewell resigned from his role as principal after more than four years in the post before the report was published. Marianne Gentilli was instated as acting principal. Her position was made permanent in May 2014. In December 2015, the Department for Education issued a warning notice from regional schools commissioner, Dominic Herrington over "unacceptably low" performance and gave the Woodard Academies Trust until 1 February 2016 to ensure the quality of teaching improved "significantly and rapidly". This follows a pre-warning notice that was issued in October 2014. At the beginning of 2016, Marianne Gentilli stepped down from her post, days after the Trust pledged “rapid and effective improvement” at the academy. Vice principal, Morgan Thomas, was appointed acting principal, while Paul Kennedy (chief education officer of Woodard Academies Trust) was appointed as executive principal. In March 2016, the academy was finally taken out of special measures, but was rated as "Requires Improvement". In 2017, it was listed as one of 365 schools that failed to meet the Government’s minimum standards. In April 2018, the school was still rated as "Requires Improvement" citing "Governors and the trust have not been sufficiently swift or effective in challenging leaders to improve the school quickly. They recognise that the pace of improvement since the last inspection has been too slow." and "Leaders’ actions over time