A SCHOOL has taken action to address safeguarding issues after it was judged ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted.

Casterton Primary School in Burnley dropped two grades after an inspection by the education watchdog.

Inspectors found pupils were making insufficient progress, weak record keeping meant procedures to tackle bullying were not ‘wholly effective’ and additional funding was not used effectively.

The damning report highlighted significant weaknesses in the overall quality of the curriculum and found standards in reading, writing and maths had declined since the previous inspection.

Lead inspector Janet Lunn said staff are not rigorously following the school’s system for recording behaviour and bullying issues so are not recognising the early warning signs of it.

She said: “The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate because not enough checks are in place to ensure that assessment information is secure.

“Outcomes for the most able pupils across the school are inadequate. Over time, very few of the most able pupils have reached the higher standards in writing.”

However she praised the relationships with parents and noted the school promotes pupils’ social, moral, spiritual and cultural development effectively.

Paul Whaling, headteacher at the Thames Avenue school, which has 284 children on the roll, said: “We accept the inspectors’ findings and, with the support of the local authority, have developed an action plan to address the issues that have been identified.

“The inspection took place in early June and we have already completed many of the actions including those relating to safeguarding issues.

“The action plan continues to help us to focus on improving pupils’ outcomes which we are monitoring robustly.

“The leadership team is committed to working together effectively to drive improvements with the full support of the staff and governors.

“We were pleased that the inspectors found many things to praise about our school, especially our support of pupils with special educational needs, our early years teaching, the good range of extra-curricular sports activities provided, the opportunities for parents to be involved in their children’s education and that children are happy and enjoy being at school.

“We are determined to build on our many strengths, to tackle those areas which need improvement, and ensure that our children receive the quality of education that they deserve.”