A HEADTEACHER has defended his staff after government inspectors criticised teaching standards at his school.

Ofsted said pupils at St Paul’s CE Primary School in Nelson were failing to make consistent progress because of ‘weaknesses’ in teaching.

But Stephen Crook, who took charge of the Hibson Road school in September, said the report was ‘very, very unfair’.

The school was told it requires improvement following inspections on October 3 and 4, a fall in standards from its ‘good’ rating in November 2009.

Among the criticisms levelled by Ofsted’s lead inspector, James McGrath, were: n Teachers’ inability to manage lessons for pupils of different abilities.

n Governors not being clear about the effects of pupil premium funding allocated to the school.

n Teachers not giving pupils enough time for pupils to do their work.

Inspectors sat in on 23 lessons, spoke to 15 members of staff and received feedback from 18 parents.

Mr Crook said: “I don’t think the report is particularly fair. I didn’t like the method they used in talking to my staff. They were devastated when they read this report. “There is nothing seriously broken here. “Popping your head into a classroom for 15 minutes doesn’t reflect the overall picture.

“My staff are very dedicated, committed and good at what they do. “We had a parents’ evening recently and the majority are fully behind us and happy with how their children are being taught.”

The school, which has 270 pupils, is set to move to a new home at the former Edge End High School site, also in Hibson Road, next year.

Ofsted praised pupils’ behaviour and improvement in reading, writing and mathematics results at Key Stage one in the the past three years.

Mr Crook added: “Everyone is committed to working hard. We will begin moving at the end of June with the pupils following in September. We really believe we’re set to fly here.”