A school in Bury has been given the lowest possible rating by the education watchdog after its latest inspection.

Chesham Primary School has been ranked as "inadequate" by Ofsted after the regulator previously rated it "good" following a visit in November 2017.

After an inspection on March 1 and 2, the Talbot Grove school was given marks of "good" in the areas of behaviour and attitudes, personal development and early years provision.

But its quality of education was branded as "requires improvement" and its leadership and management was judged to be "inadequate". 

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The report said: “Pupils enjoy learning and want to do well. That said, leaders and teachers do not have high enough expectations of what pupils can and should learn in some curriculum areas.

“Weaknesses in leadership at all levels have led to a decline in the quality of education that pupils receive.

“The curriculum in some subjects does not help pupils to learn all that they should during their time at school.

“Leaders lack the capacity to identify and remedy the shortcomings in the curriculum offer.”

The report stated that the school has "experienced a period of significant turbulence" in leadership in the past year.

This has "hindered leaders’ ability to address some of the main shortcomings at the school".

It was also reported that "many subject leaders have not developed their curriculum beyond a broad overview" and "they have been hindered by a lack of training and direction from leaders and governors".

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The report said: “In some subjects, leaders have not supported teachers to design learning that builds on pupils’ prior knowledge.

“Teachers do not have a strong enough understanding of what pupils should know and remember at each stage of learning.

“Pupils cannot connect their new learning to what they have learned before.”

But there were some positive aspects from the inspection.

The report said: “Pupils are proud to attend Chesham Primary School.

"They have warm relationships with staff and with each other."

And the curriculum in the early years is described as "ambitious and well designed".

Leaders are said to ensure children have opportunities to develop learning through carefully focused activities and are "well prepared" for Year 1.

The report said: “In the early years, children start learning to read straight away.

“Leaders engage well with parents and carers to help them support children’s reading at home.

“Pupils across the school practise their reading regularly, with books that match their reading ability.

“Teachers identify and provide extra help if pupils find reading more difficult.

“This helps most pupils to become fluent and confident readers.

“Staff are proactive in identifying pupils who struggle to keep up with their peers, including in the early years.

“Leaders manage the assessment of pupils’ needs well. They help teachers to support pupils with SEND (special educational needs and/or disabilities) effectively to access the same curriculum as their peers.

“However, due to the weaknesses in the curriculum, pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they should.”

The report said that safeguarding arrangements at the school are "effective".

And leaders have recently made "rapid improvements" to the safeguarding policies and practices.

But leaders’ records of safeguarding concerns are not as "comprehensive as they should be", according to Ofsted.

Among a number of areas to work on, the watchdog has told the school it must develop a higher quality curriculum, improve training and monitor safeguarding, behaviour and attendance issues better.  

The school has been approached for a comment about the report.

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