An inner-city Bradford primary school has been under the watch of Government education inspectors longer than any other school in the country.

Usher Street Primary School, off Wakefield Road, was found to be failing its pupils three years ago and has since been in special measures.

And two years earlier Ofsted inspectors deemed the school to have serious weaknesses - giving it a total of five years under the scrutiny of education chiefs, which is more time than any other school nationally.

Councillor Dale Smith, Bradford Council's executive member for children's services and education, said it was "embarrassing" that the school had been in special measures so long.

"Usher Street has been in a fragile condition and it has been in special measures for far too long," he said.

"Clearly we are embarrassed that it has been so long in special measures.

"We are currently investigating what is the best way to continue the progress that is being made. I expect to be making some clearer recommendations soon.

"We have produced various ideas which have been considered by the Department for Education and Skills but they are still asking for an alternative."

Earlier this year Education Bradford bosses decided to call in top head teacher Kevin Holland of Manningham school Green Lane Primary to act as an executive head. They had considered closing Usher Street but ruled it out saying there was no clear alternative if it shut down in August. Coun Smith praised the support from Green Lane and Mr Holland as "significant and substantial".

"I visited the school recently and was impressed with what I saw happening and recognise the huge effort put in," he added.

Mr Holland told the Telegraph & Argus: "Myself and a team of teachers from Green Lane have been brought in to support Usher Street and a lot of progress has been made regarding pupils' achievements and behaviour.

"Standards are definitely improving here and this was reiterated by our latest interim inspection report by Education Bradford last term which noted that we are making remarkable progress and things are improving."

A spokesman for Education Bradford, the private company midway through a ten-year contract to run the district's schools, outlined the various support measures given to Usher Street in areas such as behaviour, language and attendance.

"We believe that Usher Street is benefiting significantly from the input of Green Lane school," he said.

According to Ofsted reports, the most recent of which was in June, the school has been beset by staffing difficulties and sickness absence and pupils come and go mid-term.

Ofsted describes the school as small with a declining roll and being served by areas with high levels of social and economic disadvantage. The number of pupils entitled to free school meals is high.

The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is high and pupils speak a variety of languages. Only about two-thirds of pupils who start at the school complete their education there.

Inspector Linda Murphy said in her report that the school's action plan was inadequate. "It is a weak plan that was not rectified from the outset and is not fully understood by the school or Education Bradford. Monitoring, evaluation, responsibilities and success criteria lack clarity. As a result the school has no clear agenda for rapid and sustained improvement. However, under the leadership of the executive head teacher and the support provided by Education Bradford, the school has the capacity to move forward."

She ruled that newly-qualified teachers should not be appointed at the school and that the priorities for further improvement included: la rigorous plan to provide a shared agenda for improvement limproving the quality of teaching and the management of pupils' behaviour in lessons lsecuring the day-to-day management of the school and enabling senior staff to fulfil their responsibilities effectively.

New DfES rules in a White Paper mean schools in special measures will only get one year to turn around, instead of two. If there has been no progress, the running of the school will be effectively put out to tender to find a new provider.

WHAT THE PARENTS THINK

Nicola Millan, 27, of West Bowling, whose son is five and in year one, said: "I haven't had any problems. My son's reading and writing is good. I am happy for him to be coming here."

Sharon Bolton, of West Bowling, said: "Education wise, it's fine. My child, who is in reception class, has been coming home with paint down her front and bits of her uniform have gone missing. I am not happy with the general running of the school. I had to make a complaint about the fact that girls and boys were getting changed in the same area."

Susan Craig, 23, of West Bowling, whose son is in reception class, said: "I think it's a really good school, my son has been here only seven weeks and he is reading."

Emma Elsey, 35, of West Bowling, said: "I have been pretty impressed with the school. My son has had a few problems but the staff have been great and they couldn't have done more."

Sarah Dickinson, of East Bowling, whose four-year-old daughter is in reception class, said: "The school is fine, I am quite happy, my daughter's reading and writing is good. The staff have been fine with me."

Zulficar Khan, 28, of East Bowling, whose four-and-a-half-year-old daughter is in reception, said: "I wasn't happy before but since this new headteacher has come in I have seen a big difference."