INSPECTORS descended on a primary school to carry out an Ofsted report - even though almost half of the children and a number of teachers were away.

Pupils from the top three age groups at Curry Rivel Primary School have been on a residential trip in Devon this week, but the inspection went ahead on Tuesday anyway.

Parents were only informed the day before and several have voiced concerns about how thorough the final report can possibly be if the school is half empty.

One parent, who asked not to be named, said: "The school was only informed the day before.

"It's disrupted the whole residential trip to Beam House (in Torrington) and the leader was called back to the school.

"Parents are up in arms about this and some of them have let the inspectors know what they think because it looks as though they're putting their needs ahead of our children's education.

"The school is a good school, but how can they possibly make a judgement or an accurate report on the quality of teaching or the pupils' progress."

Parents received a letter from Ofsted on Monday informing them of the inspection and asking them to complete a survey giving their views on the school.

The inspection was continuing yesterday (Wednesday) and head teacher Peter Staddon was unable to comment as he was busy in meetings.

But a spokesman for Curry Rivel Primary School, which is in Church Street, said: “When a school is inspected is a decision made by Ofsted. It is important that we accommodate the inspectors during their visit.”

An Ofsted spokesperson said: “We notified this school on Monday that a monitoring inspection would take place the following day. Its leadership team did not ask for a deferral.

“Inspectors want to see schools as they are. We would not expect a school to change its arrangements because of an Ofsted visit.”

However, responding to Ofsted's comment, Mr Staddon said: "We did request a deferral from Ofsted but it was not granted.”