A PRIMARY school has been told it requires improvement.

Radcliffe Primary School has been rated as requiring improvement in each of the five assessed criteria following a full inspection.

The school, which has 339 pupils, received the same rating after an Ofsted inspection in November 2016 and a progress monitoring visit in November 2017.

However, the latest report praised the executive headteacher Nicola Nelson for leading improvements at the school in Coronation Road over the past 12 months.

They said her work has been “pivotal” to the progress made in teaching, pupils’ achievement and behaviour but acknowledged that these improvements are “still being embedded.”

Inspectors found that, in parts of the school and in some subjects, the standard of teaching was “not good enough.”

The Ofsted report, published this month, read: “Although aspects of early years provision have improved, teaching is not consistently good. By the end of Year 6, pupils do not make enough progress in mathematics. Boys do not achieve as well as they should in writing. Not enough disadvantaged pupils are prepared for secondary school by the end of Year 6.

“Persistent absence is well above average.

“Pupils say that they feel safe in school but that lessons are still sometimes disrupted by misbehaviour.

“Staff do not appear to be informing senior leaders of all incidents of prejudice-based name-calling that pupils report to them.”

To improve, the school, which is part of Bury College Education Trust, was told it must improve the quality of teaching, the consistency of mathematics teaching and boys' writing skills.

Ofsted also placed an emphasis on the need to improve pupils’ behaviour by reducing absences, hold effective supervision, and escalate prejudicial name-calling or behaviour to senior leaders.

They wrote: “Pupils report that behaviour at lunchtime, both in the dining halls and on the playground, could be much better.

“Pupils say that fights sometimes break out and explain that they hear name-calling of a racist and homophobic nature more than occasionally. Pupils’ biggest gripe is that lunchtime staff take little or no notice when they report behaviour concerns. Despite these examples, the pupils who spoke to inspectors said that they feel safe in school.”

Ofsted praised the improvements being made by Miss Nelson, including the “broad and engaging” curriculum and the nurture unit which supports vulnerable pupils.

They found that pupils were making “stronger progress” and attaining, as a minimum, the expected standards by the end of Years 2 and 6.

Headteacher Mrs Nelson said: "The trustees, local governors and I are pleased that the inspectors have recognised the many areas of progress that the school has made in the two years since the last full inspection.

"The inspectors also agreed with us about the areas that we had already identified for further improvement, and that as a school we are still on an improvement journey."