A Colne Valley primary school has been told to improve the consistency of its teaching by Ofsted inspectors.

Clough Head Junior and Infant School at Bolster Moor was inspected last month and the overall effectiveness of the school was found to require improvement.

But inspectors rated three of the five areas - the leadership and management, behaviour and welfare and early years provision - as good.

Inspectors summarised their findings and noted that over time pupils have not made consistently good progress, are not challenged across the school and do not have sufficient opportunities to write English at length.

Her Majesty’s Inspector Mark Evans said in his report: “Teaching, learning and assessment require improvement because, although the majority of teaching is effective, there is too much that is not good enough. As a result, too many pupils are not making the sustained progress that they should.

“Where the teaching is less effective pupils make slower progress because they are not sufficiently clear about what they are doing and give up too easily.”

Mr Evans was the lead inspector on the two days visit on November 7 and 8. He found pupils to be polite, kind and keenly aware of others and generally well behaved.

He further found that the school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare was outstanding.

In his report on the visit he praises leaders and governors who are said to be clear about what they need to do to improve the school.

The report continues: “The headteacher and deputy headteacher are skilled. They know the school and its community well. They use the strength that being part of an effective federation of schools provides effectively. They are clear about what needs to be done to improve the school.

“They have taken effective action to address its shortcomings. However, insufficient time has passed for these actions to have a sustained positive impact across the school.”

Clough Head currently has 90 children on the roll aged four to 11 under the leadership of headteacher Mrs Claire Kenworthy.