Experts from Education Bradford are helping two primary schools draw up action plans, after each was termed to have "serious weaknesses".

The school watchdog Ofsted has criticised both Poplars Farm Primary in the Bolton area of Bradford and Victoria Primary at Keighley.

Schools deemed to have 'serious weaknesses' are one up from a failing school and must have extra inspections.

At Poplars Farm, inspectors found a school still reeling from re-organisation. All but two of the teachers had joined within the previous two years.

They found pupils' results were too low, rated 'well below average' compared to schools with similar intakes. But they noted that behaviour management and special needs provision had improved and that the school was "well poised for further improvement".

Head teacher Peter Sumpter said he accepted the criticisms but added that the staffing problems were partly due to the "unusual circumstances" of three experienced teachers being on maternity leave.

At Victoria Primary, in Greenhead Lane, most of the pupils are Pakistani and come from a tightly knit community of just three streets, where the main language spoken is Punjabi. All of the children have English as a second language and their attainment on entry to the school is well below average.

Ofsted found that the school was a 'safe and caring environment where pupils are happy, develop positive attitudes and behave well'. But it said children did not make enough progress at the school. It also found the school did not have the active support of parents. Rates of unauthorised absence were high.

Head Kay Lindley said: "We feel it is unfortunate we have got the label serious weaknesses for things Ofsted acknowledge are beyond our control. But there were a lot of positives in the report."

A spokesman for Education Bradford said: "Both schools were given extra support during their Ofsted inspections, which has continued. Both schools are receiving additional time from Education Bradford multi-professional teams.''

There are now seven schools in special measures and another ten with 'serious weaknesses'.