A SCHOOL placed in special measures earlier this year is not doing enough to improve, says education watchdog Ofsted.

Southmere Primary Academy, in Ewart Street, Great Horton, is run by the Northern Education Trust and following a visit in November 2016 was rated inadequate.

Ryecroft Academy, run by the same trust, was also placed into special measures around the same time and the Department for Education said it was “closely monitoring” the progress of the schools.

But in a damning monitoring inspection of Southmere, inspector Jo Sharpe said leaders and managers were not taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.

“Having considered all the evidence, I strongly recommend that the school does not seek to appoint newly-qualified teachers,” said the report, which outlines “significant change” in the leadership and teaching team at the school, with a new principal joining the school in September.

“Leaders and managers have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to bring about improvement since the school’s inspection in November 2016,” it says.

“Too long has been taken to secure any improvement, so currently, the school is unlikely to be removed from special measures in the required timescale.”

However, it says the new principal and CEO of the trust are “acutely aware” improvement has not been good enough and have an accurate view of what needs to improve.

Newly-appointed principal Susan Dawson said: “I would agree with the observations and analysis of the inspectors during their visit and echo their concerns that improvements have not been rapid enough since the outcome of the previous inspection.” She added it was “imperative” improvements were rapidly secured.

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Rob Tarn, the new chief executive of the Northern Education Trust, added: “It is clear that the children in our care deserve a much higher standard of education than they have been receiving and I praise the efforts of the new principal, Susan Dawson, in taking the difficult decisions necessary to enable the rapidly changing culture which is required to dramatically improve the provision for our children.

“As a proud member of the Northern Alliance of Trusts we are working with our partners to secure the immediate capacity needed to move the school forward.”