A PRIMARY school has received a rating of Requires Improvement in its first ever Ofsted inspection since becoming an academy.

Wilsden Primary School, in Tweedy Street, was visited by the education watchdog on January 7 and 8, with the report published on February 25.

It graded the school as Requires Improvement in four out of the five assessment categories, with a Good rating in "Personal Development".

The inspectors - a team of three - praised teachers for planning experiences that "capture pupils' interests".

The report states: "Pupils enjoy spending time learning in the school's ‘Fawcett Forest’.

"They work together to make fires, toast marshmallows and develop friendships."

Pupils also like coming to school, attendance is good, and they enjoy the units they study - such as learning about their locality and environmental issues, World War 2 and Remembrance Day.

But, pupils do not learn consistently well across all subjects and some say they want to be challenged more, with "hard work that makes them think".

Reading is prioritised (with most pupils confident readers by Year 2), as is the school's special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) provision, but this needs to be expanded into other areas.

The report states: "New curriculum leaders do not check on the subjects they oversee with enough rigour.

"They do not have a comprehensive understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development.

"Leaders should build on the strengths of the leadership of early reading and SEND to support the development of all curriculum leaders."

Behaviour is also an area with mixed success.

The report states: "Pupils generally feel well looked after. There is a new approach to managing behaviour.

"Pupils like the rewards it offers for good behaviour.

"The behaviour of some pupils is not always as good as it could be. In some cases, it stops pupils from learning.

"Pupils said the consequences of poor behaviour were not always tough enough as some pupils continue to break school rules and disrupt learning."

Staff, teachers and pupils also said behaviour is not consistent between the playground and lessons.

The report states: "Some pupils are disrespectful to adults and this can disrupt pupils’ learning.

"When pupils misbehave, pupils told us that action taken by leaders does not always result in better behaviour."

But pupils are proud to take responsibilities, such as head boy and girl, and the leadership team are ambitious in pushing forward.

Wilsden Primary joined the Focus-Trust, which has 15 primary academies in total across the North West and Yorkshire, in February 2017.

Helen Rowland, Chief Executive of the Focus-Trust, said: "Leaders were disappointed to receive the Requires Improvement outcome as judgements were close to Good in all areas.

"School now has a number of improvement priorities which they are actively working on in partnership with the leaders, staff, governors, families and pupils.

"Leaders had a meeting for parents/carers in January and another one will take place later in March when they will discuss the impact of actions taken.

"The Parents Meeting has helped shape the way forward, including creating the new Wilsden Way, and everyone is committed to working in partnership with Wilsden to ensure they become a Good school as soon as possible."