A DARWEN primary school has been told it ‘requires improvement’ after a visit by Ofsted inspectors.

Darwen St Peter’s CE Primary on Turncroft Road has been given the results of their inspection at the end of February.

It came on the back of its previous inspection in June 2014 being rated as ‘good’.

School bosses were told leaders have been ‘unable to ensure that all groups of pupils make good progress and reach the standards they are a capable of’.

Also the ‘quality of teaching across the school is not consistently good’ and that teachers ‘do not routinely provide most able pupils with activities that challenge and stretch their learning and this slows their progress’.

The inspectors felt their approach to ‘leadership and teaching of phonics lacks rigour and inconsistency’ and that the pupils’ progress in phonics ‘is not quick enough and so too few pupils reach the expected standard in Year 1 phonics check’.

They also found that ‘middle leaders are relatively new to the school or to their roles and they ‘have good knowledge of their areas of responsibility and lead with enthusiasm. However, their skills in using assessment information and monitoring the effectiveness of teaching are at an early stage of development.’

However, the inspection team found the schools’ strengths.

It said: “The headteacher is reflective and knows the school well. Despite significant challenges with staffing and leadership, she has ensured that St Peter’s remains a happy and caring school”.

The report added that among their findings were that there ‘are promising signs that leaders’ actions are beginning to have a positive impact on pupils’ outcomes’.

Victoria Weddle, headteacher said: "The governors and leaders of St Peter’s were obviously very disappointed with the recent Ofsted judgements.

"Our staff and pupils work very hard to make St Peter’s a happy and safe environment in which all our children can flourish and learn.

"Work has already started on the areas for development raised by Ofsted and the school, the Diocese and the local authority are more than confident that when Ofsted return for a follow up inspection, we will be able to prove to them that we are a good school."