OFSTED has branded a Bury primary school as “requiring improvement” after it dropped marks in its most recent inspection.

St Paul’s Church of England Primary School dropped from the ‘good’ rating it obtained in a previous inspection.

The report shows the school is failing in three of the five areas of inspection, but is rated ‘good’ in the other two, leaving its overall rating at ‘requires improvement’.

The early years provision and the development, behaviour and welfare of pupils were found to be ‘good’.

But the Porritt Street school ‘requires improvement’ for its leadership, its teaching quality and its pupil outcomes.

St Paul’s was last inspected in February 2013 and was found to be ‘good’ in all areas.

However, the inspection in March found pupils did not make ‘consistently good progress across different year groups in reading, writing and mathematics’ and teaching at the school was found to be ‘uneven’.

The report also found there had been a number of staffing changes since 2013, which were felt to have had a detrimental impact on pupils, however, the report praised new head Joanne Morris, who inspectors felt ‘set about tackling this decline with vigour’.

The behaviour of pupils was complimented by the report, which found them to be keen and enthusiastic.

For pupil outcomes, the report found “achievement is improving and is much stronger than the 2016 results suggest”. Class variation was thought to have affected results.

The early years provision at the school was deemed to be ‘good’ and the progress children made while in its care praised.

Mrs Morris, said: “I am pleased with the recognition that OFSTED has given myself and the leadership team that we have tackled the weaknesses within the school with vigour.

“As acknowledged by OFSTED, stability within the school has been secured and this had begun to have a positive effect on progress.

“There are many positive comments in our report and it is especially pleasing that we are seen as a ‘harmonious community’, where children feel safe and are well behaved.

“As a school we have acknowledged our areas for development and since the inspection in March we have already set about addressing these recommendations.

“We are an improving school and all of the staff at St Paul’s will continue to work hard to make our school the very best place to be.”