A VILLAGE primary school has been told it must improve in its latest Ofsted report.

Curry Rivel Primary School was rated as ‘requires improvement’ during the latest inspection, which took place on July 3-4.

The school was also rated ‘requires improvement’ in 2017.

Despite the negative rating, the school’s acting headteacher was praised. Frances Burns was appointed as the school leader in May 2018.

The report stated: “The acting headteacher is rebuilding the school month on month. She is leading with determination and bringing about the much-needed improvements successfully.

“Many parents and carers recognise these changes as positive. However, leaders’ work is recent and not yet sustained over time.”

The report also highlighted governors have not ‘evaluated the impact of pupil premium funding effectively’ and how the most-able students are not sufficiently challenged.

A number of strengths were also mentioned, including the behaviour of the pupils and strong nursery teaching.

Mrs Burns said: “The inspection was thorough and recognised the improvements made.

"Since I arrived, the whole staff team have shown real dedication and hard work to deliver high quality teaching while continuing to inspire a love of learning and show care for each child.

“One of our key priorities is to have a greater focus on those children who have underachieved in the past to ensure they 'catch up'. We will continue to focus on this alongside our other agreed priorities to ensure that every child can excel within a happy community.

“As often happens with an end of term visit, the inspectors did not see the normal teaching timetable as their visit coincided with the transition day into new classes and a trip to Lyme Regis.

"Despite the recognition of considerable progress, the school remains in the ‘requires improvement’ category as the improvements, fully acknowledged by the inspectors, are still on-going.”