A SOUTH Somerset primary school has been told that it ‘requires improvement’ after an Ofsted inspection was held earlier this month.

Buckland St Mary School, near Chard, was found to be sub-standard across four out of the five areas it was rated on.

The 68-pupil village school has made improvements since its previous ‘inadequate’ ranking, with inspectors highlighting a strong work ethic and rating the early years provisions as ‘good’.

Helen Woodmans became head of small schools for The Redstart Learning Partnership in September 2017, which includes Buckland St Mary Church of England Primary.

She said: “This report recognises the impact of all the work the school has done over the last few years.

“We’re pleased with the many positive comments in our latest Ofsted report but recognise that there is still plenty to do, especially around our assessment systems and paperwork.

“We’re delighted that our nursery and reception classes were judged as good and that inspectors could see the transformation that new buildings and equipment have brought to our school.”

However, the school was told that improvement still needs to be made when it comes to effectiveness of leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, personal development, behaviours and welfare, and outcomes for pupils.

Included in the problems faced by the school are that it failed to meet national floor targets in 2017 and children do not have a sufficiently good understanding of life in modern Britain.

Mrs Woodmans added: “There is a real commitment from all the staff, board trustees and The Redstart Learning Partnership to use the recommendations in the report to further build on the significant achievements of recent years.

“Together we have made good progress and we are proud of all our children who are keen to learn.”