THE head teacher of a Salisbury school branded “inadequate” by Ofsted says it is “working with pace and purpose to put this right” with an improvement plan.

Pembroke Park Primary School on Devizes Road was given an overall rating of inadequate by Ofsted following a two-day inspection in July. Previously it had been rated good.

It "requires improvement" for behaviour and attitudes and personal development and was given "inadequate" ratings for the quality of its education; leadership and management; and early years provision it was given inadequate ratings.

The Ofsted report described the quality of education received by pupils as “poor” adding: “Although pupils are happy and say they feel safe, they have significant gaps in their learning. As a result, pupils are not well prepared for the next stage of their education.”

Pupils reading and the teaching of phonetics was flagged as an area of concern.

Inspectors also stated that learning was “not adapted well enough to meet the needs of pupils with SEND” which meant “these pupils do not learn as well as they should”. The report called on leaders and staff to ensure they check the quality and effectiveness of support plans and how they are being implemented across the curriculum to ensure the needs of SEND pupils are met.

Early years provision was described as “poor” with inspectors saying that “children do not gain the knowledge and skills they need to achieve well across the curriculum. As a result, they are not well prepared for the next stage of their education.”

The report did praise the recently appointed acting headteacher who had “quickly identified” what needed to be done to make the school better by “challenging low expectations of pupils’ behaviour and bringing the staff team together”.

But also said that senior leaders, trustees and local governors had “not acted quickly enough to address the significant decline since the previous inspection”.

Acting head teacher Toni Hayzen said: “The reality is that the inspectors rightly raised the same issues that we are already aware of and are addressing.

“Our children and our community deserve the very best, and nobody linked to the school is shying away from the fact that at the moment we are not meeting the high standards that we demand of ourselves.

“What I can say, however, is that we are working with pace and purpose to put this right. We have an improvement plan that we are working through, and it is pleasing to note that inspectors saw that our work is having an impact.”

The school is part of the Magna Learning Partnership.

The school’s previous inspection took place in the summer of 2016.