OFSTED has told a Worcestershire school it needs to improve, after inspectors found attainment was below national expectations in most year groups.

Martley CE Primary School was rated ‘requires improvement’ by the regulator across four key areas including quality of teaching, pupil achievement, management and early years provision.

The report, which was published on Tuesday, May 19, following a visit in April, marks a downgrading of the school from the ‘good’ it achieved in 2011.

But the headteacher insists the school is improving and has “a strong determination to be even better very quickly”.

Inspectors wrote in their report: “Teaching does not always engage the interest of all pupils or set high enough expectations of what they can achieve.

“As a result some pupils do not make as much progress in lessons as they could.

“Boys in particular, pupils with special educational needs and the most-able pupils do not always achieve the standards that they should.”

The Ofsted report adds that some boys entering year one “have not reached a good enough level of development in their basic skills, especially in writing” while further improvements are required to “ensure that [year six] pupils are fully prepared for the next stage of their education”.

Leaders were also criticised for “not acting quickly enough to tackle some poor teaching in the past” and failing to ensure pupils have “enough experience of different cultures to be well prepared for life in modern Britain”.

Inspectors however recognised that by the end of year six standards are “broadly in line with the national average” and that “recent positive staff appointments have improved teaching”.

The headteacher was praised for “improving the school” and “strengthening teaching” and pupils were described as “proud of their school and know that the adults are working hard to make it even better”.

Ofsted also graded the behaviour and safety of pupils as ‘good’.

Andrew Massey, headteacher of Martley CE Primary School, said: “We welcome the report from Ofsted which acknowledges the hard work we are doing and that we are an improving school, with a strong determination to be even better very quickly.

“It recognises that our children are happy. They enjoy coming to school and enjoy learning with the many varied opportunities our dedicated staff create, guided by our strong partnership with the church.

“We are pleased that the report recognises the support we have from our parents and the high staff morale which is helping us to improve further.

“The report acknowledges that the actions we have already put in place are the right ones and they are moving us in the right direction.

“We now need to accelerate the pace of change. We have the action plans in place and are already well under way with these.

“Our standards at the end of year six are in line with the national average. We are working hard to improve these standards and those for all of our children across the school.

“We have implemented many actions to enable our children to progress faster, and achieve even more highly. Ofsted acknowledged that these are working - we now need to accelerate their impact and we are doing so.

“We are building something special here at Martley and the Ofsted report recognises the bright future we are travelling towards.

“The Ofsted report has supported us in our journey to being the outstanding school we want to be. Time, dedication and high expectations will ensure that we achieve this rapidly - we are enjoying the challenge.”