A Colne Valley primary school is not good enough, according to Ofsted.
Government inspectors have judged Beech Early Years Infant and Junior School, Golcar to have “serious weaknesses” and graded it as 4-Inadequate.
They said that pupils’ achievement had fallen significantly in the three Rs and was inadequate. Pupils make poor progress, especially in writing.
Inspectors did, however, stop short of placing the school in Special Measures. This means that they believe that headteacher Sue Palmer, along with school leaders and governors, have the ability to turn things around at the 189-pupil Beech Avenue school.
The report stated; “In 2013, too few pupils in Year 6 reached the nationally expected Level 4. This indicates inadequate achievement and progress from pupils’ individual starting points.
“Teaching is not yet good enough. The work given to pupils is not always challenging enough particularly for the most able, and sometimes pupils’ written work is left unmarked.
“Teaching does not always engage pupils well enough so they lose interest and their behaviour deteriorates. As a result learning slows.”
Teachers weren’t the only ones coming in for criticism, pupils’ behaviour was a cause for concern.
Inspectors said: “Teaching does not always engage pupils well enough so they lose interest and their behaviour deteriorates. As a result learning slows.
“The behaviour of pupils requires improvement because a small minority are not keen to get on with their work, and this results in a few pupils not behaving and learning as well as they should. A small number of pupils demonstrate extremely challenging behaviour.”
At its previous inspection two years ago, Beech was rated as 3-Satisfactory. However, Ofsted believes that since then, improvements have not been implemented quickly enough.
Inspectors did find areas for praise, including good teaching and pupil progress in nursery and reception classes, new initiatives which are starting to have an impact, better teaching and pupils’ general enjoyment of school.
Headteacher Sue Palmer said: “One of the most important outcomes of the report is that Ofsted identified the school’s leaders, managers and governors as clearly able to secure improvements.
“We were already working on several areas in need of development and taking action to secure rapid improvements for pupils across the school.
“Our challenge is to continue this progress, working closely with the local authority, the Golcar Village Family of Schools and a National Leader of Excellence in teaching.
“The inspectors highlighted advances we are making in school performance, pupils’ progress and the proportion of good teaching.
“We will also continue building on our school’s strengths and on nurturing the family atmosphere that we know everyone, especially the children, values so much.”
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