A Bradford primary school has been branded as failing by education watchdogs Ofsted.

Southmere Primary School has been placed in special measures because "standards are far too low and pupils' achievement is not good enough".

The school in Great Horton follows Usher Street and St Mary's primaries and Rhodesway secondary which are also failing to educate pupils properly and are in special measures.

In his report Ofsted inspector Robert Robinson was very critical of the teaching and pupils' lack of progress.

He said: "Lessons and the curriculum fail to meet the needs of all pupils and hold back their progress. The quality of teaching is too variable and is not strong enough to speed up pupils' learning."

He particularly condemned achievement levels at the foundation stage saying: "Children enter school with skills that are well below those expected for their age. They get off to a slow start and make limited progress because of inadequacies in teaching."

Both the headteacher and deputy have changed within the past year.

The inspector said of them that they "have begun to set priorities for improvement but, as yet, the impact of these initiatives is not identifiable in standards of pupils' work and their achievement".

Headteacher Tim Lawson said an action plan had been drawn up to help bring about further improvements.

He said: "Before the inspection, we were already taking steps to deal with issues which were subsequently raised by the inspection team.

"Unfortunately at the time of the inspection, it was not possible for the Ofsted team to measure the impact of what we were doing and this is reflected in the report. We accept this report and are working very hard to address the issues raised in it.

"I am proud of this school and, along with our hard-working and dedicated staff, want to do all we can to bring it out of special measures."

In particular, the report says the school should take a more rigorous approach to monitoring and evaluating the school's performance; improve the quality of teaching to speed up pupils' learning so that they can achieve higher standards; improve provision in the foundation stage; establish systems to track pupils' progress to raise standards and achievement; improve attendance.

It praises behaviour at the school."Pupils enjoy school and consistently behave well so behaviour around school is calm and orderly. Relationships between pupils are harmonious," it says.

Chairman of governors, the Reverend Paul Flowers, added: "The governing body is working with senior managers at the school to bring it out of special measures. Although I accept the report, I do not feel it adequately acknowledges all the hard work and the commitment of the staff and everybody else associated with Southmere Primary."

Councillor Dale Smith, Bradford Council's executive member for children's services, said: "It is always a matter of very grave concern whenever a school is placed in an Ofsted category.

"I know that the new leadership and staff of the school will be anxious to implement the necessary changes and are already working hard to achieve this, together with colleagues from Education Bradford.

"There is a good overall track record of Education Bradford working with schools to help them come out of Ofsted categories, with the proportion falling from more than 11 per cent of schools in such categories a few years ago to just a handful today but frankly, for the sake of the children, we still need to be smarter at preventing this from happening."

Four schools in Bradford are in special measures. Usher Street Primary has been failing for three years and now could be closed at the end of the summer term next July. The others are St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary and Rhodesway.

Wyke Manor came out of special measures recently after two years.

e-mail: jo.winrow@bradford.newsquest.co.uk