Holy Trinity Primary School in Taunton placed in special measures after being deemed 'inadequate' by Ofsted

Holy Trinity Primary School has been put into a multi-academy trust and the governors are being replaced by an interim executive board in an attempt to oversee improvements.

The inspectors concluded: *the quality of education has "deteriorated" since the last inspection as the leaders have not ensured teaching enables pupils to achieve well.

*the leadership team is incapable of making improvements "with the required urgency".

*the rate of progress of disadvantaged pupils is too slow.

*children with special educational needs are underachieving.

*too many pupils are falling behind due to targets not being challenging enough.

*the quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate.

*the most able pupils are not given opportunities to extend their learning.

*early years pupils are not achieving well.

*some pupils do not behave well.

But they pointed out that head teacher Adrian Parsonage, who started at Trinity last term, has "started to make important changes", while pupils are mostly "polite and kind", more early years children are "on track" and there are improvements for pupils with complex needs.

Writing to parents, Julia Steward, chairman of the governors, said everyone was "disappointed" by the report.

She said: "It does not reflect the hard work put in by pupils, parents and staff, nor the thriving school community we have at Trinity, but we fully accept the need to raise standards.

"We also feel encouraged by the fact that we have identified many of the issues ourselves and started to address them before the inspection took place."

She added: "We are determined to maintain our strengths while raising aspirations for our pupils' attainment - an issue which comes through strongly in the report.

"As we go into a new year and a new term, we hope that is an attitude that the whole school community will embrace."

A parent, who asked not to be named, said: "It was quite a surprise to hear this because everyone thought of it as a good school that has grown enormously.

"There are good teachers there and maybe they've just taken their eye of the ball."

Mr Parsonage, who is praised by inspectors for the changes he has put in place and his ambitions for the school, said:  “This report will be disappointing for a lot of people and it does not reflect the hard work of pupils, parents and staff, nor the thriving school community we have at Trinity.

“We fully accept the need to raise standards and there is some reassurance in the fact that we had identified many of the issues ourselves and started to address them before the inspection took place, so that work is well underway.

“We have already taken positive steps forward and I am confident this will be reflected in the next set of academic results. We have a wonderful, growing school with children who are happy, safe and confident and the school’s leadership is committed to helping them achieve their full potential.

“One message that comes through loud and clear in the report is the importance of having higher aspirations for our pupils and what they can achieve. That is the attitude that I want the whole school community to have as we go into the new term."

Sue Rogers, Somerset County Council’s Deputy Director for Education, said: “We all want our children to have the best possible chance to fulfil their potential and the Council’s role is to support Holy Trinity as it tackles the issues that this Ofsted inspection has raised.

“It is a real positive that work is already underway and we will continue to support Adrian and his team to see it through and make the transition to academy status.”