A school in East Lancashire has been told it requires improvement by Ofsted after having previously been rated good.

Colne Primet Academy on Dent Street was inspected on November 28, 2023, with the report published on May 9.

The school was given a rating of 'Requires Improvement' by inspectors, with low attendance and a lack of effective support noted as areas where the school needs to get better.

The area of 'personal development' remains good, the only rating that matched the previous inspection in May 2018.

A spokesperson for the school, part of Pendle Education Trust, said it acknowledges there are areas where improvements are needed and is working to address them.

The inspection report said: "Pupils at Colne Primet Academy are strong advocates for their school. They championed the improvements the school has made to pupils’ behaviour.

"However, a minority of pupils do not show positive attitudes towards their learning. Added to this, some pupils do not attend school as regularly as they should.

"Many pupils, including some pupils who speak English as an additional language, join the school part way through the academic year. Some of these pupils have had negative experiences of education in the past.

"Some staff lack the confidence to design learning that supports pupils to learn the specific knowledge in the curriculum well. This hinders some pupils from building a rich body of subject knowledge."

Other aspects noted in the Ofsted report said the school could improve include teachers studying assessment systems to check what pupils know and remember before they introduce new knowledge, to ensure pupils are ready for the new information.

The report also said some older pupils have not benefited from the same effective support, as they do not read as well as they should, which can affect how well they learn across the wider curriculum.

A spokesperson for Colne Primet Academy said: "We are really pleased Ofsted inspectors recognise the significant improvements made in recent years, and they were able to reflect the positive academy community that we now have.

"Inspectors found 'the school is passionate about supporting pupils to overcome disadvantage and to remove any barriers to their success' and 'the school is fiercely committed to encouraging pupils’ wider development beyond the academic curriculum'.

"However, we acknowledge there are still aspects of our academy which we continue to improve.

"These include continuing to develop consistency in the way our curriculum is delivered and assessed, supporting students in Key Stage 4 to improve their reading, especially for those with English as an additional language, and working with families of a minority of students where attendance remains low and or poor attitude to learning is hindering their progress.

"We are looking forward to building on the positives from this report and the recent improvements that were highlighted in the report having a positive impact.

"With our brand-new facilities ready to open before the end of this academic year, and lots of new families ready to join us in Year 7 from September as we continue to increase the numbers of students in our Primet community, it is a really exciting time for our school."