A SCHOOL has been told it must improve following a recent inspection.

Education watchdog Ofsted visited Our Lady and St Brendan’s Catholic Primary School, Idle, in June, and judged the school as ‘requires improvement’ in every area apart from early years provision, which was rated as ‘good’.

In their report, inspectors said that pupils’ achievements in reading, writing and maths was below the national level and that rates of progress made by pupils in their learning across key stage 2 has been slow, especially in reading.

“Some pupils, including most-able pupils, have not been consistently challenged in their learning,” the report outlined.

“Only a small proportion of pupils are working at a greater depth in their learning. Disadvantaged pupils do not achieve as well as other pupils nationally.”

Inspectors said teaching has not been “consistently strong”, the school’s curriculum needs further refinement and “a minority of pupils’ poor attitudes to learning results in a lack of pride in work, or disruption in lessons”.

However, the Ofsted report said the school is improving quickly and said the appointment of an executive headteacher means that weaknesses are “being tackled rigorously and with dogged determination”.

It praised early years provision and said “pupils are happy and said that they feel safe. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is supported very well”.

School leaders were also praised for their ambition in eradicating underperformance.

Executive headteacher Maureen Cairns said the school accepts the findings of the report and is pleased that changes made have been recognised.

She said: “We are determined that this improvement will continue and we can secure a good rating at our next inspection. As the report says ‘solid foundations for future success are being built and the impact of their work is beginning to emerge’.

“When we return for the next school year, in September, we are determined to build on those foundations and are confident that the school will quickly be able to deliver a good standard of education for all our pupils.”