A first-time head teacher insists he is determined to raise standards at a struggling Bradford primary school.

Bryan Harrison started the top job at Miriam Lord Community Primary School, Manningham, ten months ago. Ofsted inspectors visited in March.

The reporting inspector’s findings were critical of the school’s performance, ranking it “inadequate” with a “satisfactory” scope to secure consistent improvement.

It is a blow to the school after it was credited with gaining a momentum of improvement in 2007, three years on from major financial problems that led to a string of redundancies.

Ofsted has now issued Miriam Lord with a notice to improve.

The inspection report says the school is a larger-than-average primary of 486 pupils where the vast majority are from Asian British backgrounds.

Nearly all pupils are learning English as an additional language and a significant proportion of children have special educational needs or disabilities.

The report notes there is a legacy of underachievement and a low level of attendance. Standards are “very low” and pupils make only satisfactory progress from their starting points, especially in maths.

But Mr Harrison is praised.

The report says: “The head teacher and senior leaders are injecting a new sense of purpose into the work of the school.

“Actions taken since the start of the school year are beginning to bear fruit in raising attainment and improving the quality of provision.”

Mr Harrison said his team would strive for better. “Even though as a school we’re disappointed with the outcome, we’re optimistic and strongly committed to bringing about the suggested improvements,” he said.

“As a school we feel proud of our achievements, many of which were recognised by Ofsted. We have energetic and enthusiastic children, a community of committed parents who think very highly of the school, and as a staff we provide a caring environment where the individual needs of our children are provided for.

“We have worked hard to improve our attendance, but recognise that we still have large numbers of families who don’t attend regularly. Myself and my school leadership team have systems in place for monitoring the progress of all our pupils and take rapid steps to address any underachievement.”