A private school has been told it still "does not meet standards" a year after being handed a damning inspection rating - but "progress" has been made.

Prestwich Preparatory School (PPS) on Bury Old Road was subject to a monitoring inspection by education watchdog Ofsted after being handed the lowest possible score of "inadequate" last year with the quality of education judged to be “weak".

The latest inspection found that while school leaders had made "progress" on setting out what pupils should learn, it added that “the finer details of the curriculum had not been finalised".

Headteacher Patricia Shiels says the fresh report does not reflect the changes leadership have put in place, and added that Ofsted's requirements are not suitable for smaller schools such as PPS. 

Ofsted reported that teachers at the school, which charges an annual fee for day pupils of £7,394, “did not have knowledge or confidence to teach some subjects effectively" after the inspection in February 2023.

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After returning to inspect the school without notice on February 1, Ofsted said it had made some "positive action’’ towards meeting standards for the quality of leadership and management but reported some remained unmet.

It said: “At the time of the progress monitoring inspection, the headteacher had more time allocated to maintain a strategic overview of the school.

“However, leaders had failed to comply with all of the previously unmet standards.”

But the report noted that the school had improved the welfare, health and safety of pupils.

It said: “At the school’s previous standard inspection in February 2023, leaders did not consistently record behaviour incidents as accurately as they should to allow them to spot any patterns or trends in pupils’ behaviour.

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“At this progress monitoring inspection, leaders had put in place a system for staff to record incidents of poor behaviour and related sanctions.

"Leaders use this to evaluate patterns of behaviour. The school meets all of the previously unmet requirements in this part.

"Leaders had made progress in setting out the overall content that they want pupils to learn."

In a statement, Ms Shiels said pupils had received successful grammar school exam results, with the Year 6 cohort receiving an average of 2.5 places each, including bursaries and scholarships.  

She added that pupils who had struggled at their previous schools had made excellent progress after joining PPS. 

Ms Shiels said: "Our small class sizes and the individual attention work received by the pupils allows us to provide a bespoke curriculum and academic environment in which they can flourish.

"Our parents are very happy with our curriculum and the progress their children have made and we thank them for their continued support and the lovely comments that we received following the inspection and its outcome.

"We do not feel that this report truly reflects all the changes we have made to satisfy the current Ofsted requirements and fully agree with the many that view these as unsuitable for small schools such as ourselves.

"This is currently something under national debate and Ofsted itself have launched 'The Big Listen' for teachers and parents to offer their views."

The Department for Education says it requires the school to prepare an action plan to improve standards.