A SHIPLEY school has been branded inadequate by education watchdog Ofsted.

Inspectors visited Wycliffe CofE Primary School, Saltaire Road, in July, and in a subsequent report judged the school as ‘requires improvement’ in three areas, inadequate in two areas and the school as inadequate overall.

In 2013, the school was 'good' according to the body.

But in the most recent report, inspectors said: “Leadership over time has been poor, leading to weak safeguarding, monitoring, performance management and training for teachers.”

They said senior and middle leaders were “keen to make improvements”, but did not have the skills needed to drive change “in a way that improves the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress quickly enough”.

Early years leadership was criticised for not being strong enough, with the report outlining “...children make weak progress in their learning and development”.

It also said safeguarding is not “sufficiently robust”, some teaching has not been strong enough and staff do not use the school’s behaviour policy to encourage pupils’ good behaviour.

However, it states “effective teaching” is helping Key Stage 1 pupils make good progress, the teaching of spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues is preparing pupils for life in modern Britain and attendance has improved.

In a statement, the school said it has “significantly strengthened” its leadership with the appointment of a new interim headteacher, assistant headteacher and head of the Early Years Foundation stage.

An interim executive board has also been appointed to take over governance at the school

Interim head teacher Carol McDermott said: “This is obviously a disappointing report for parents and staff. However, Ofsted has not placed us in special measures which shows it believes we have the capacity to deliver the necessary improvements.

“The school was already addressing areas of concern before the Ofsted inspection. Good progress has been made overall since March and this is particularly the case in terms of strengthening the leadership of our school and addressing concerns around safeguarding.”

She added all staff are committed to ensure the school delivers the best education possible for pupils.

A Bradford Council spokesman said: “We fully accept the findings of this Ofsted inspection. We have already carried out our own review of Wycliffe Primary School and have led on making the changes needed to ensure improvements are made.

“We have installed an interim executive board (IEB) to replace the school’s governing body and we are pleased that Ofsted inspectors have recognised that the IEB is knowledgeable and experienced and that they have been quick to act.

“We have also helped to secure strong leadership with the appointment of a new interim headteacher.

“We are confident that the new leadership team in the school will ensure that children at Wycliffe Primary receive a good standard of education.”