LEADERSHIP at a Carlisle primary school must be strengthened to successfully tackle the “endemic weaknesses” in the quality of education its pupils receive, Ofsted has said.

Inspectors said turbulence in leadership at Newtown Community Primary School was not sustainable and means that the school is reliant on acting leaders, including acting governors, to bring about urgent improvement.

The school, in Raffles Avenue, was rated inadequate following its latest inspection. It was found to be inadequate in the areas of the quality of education and leadership and management, though inspectors rated it to be good in the areas of behaviour and personal development. Early years provision requires improvement.

Newtown Community Primary School was rated Good overall in 2014 but standards slipped three years later when it was told it required improvement.

The most recent report, published in March, stated: “Although pupils enjoy attending the school, they do not achieve well. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not develop the knowledge that they need in writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

“The quality of pupils’ education is inadequate. Until recent weeks, leaders’ and staff’s expectations of pupils have been too low.”

It continued: “Leaders and governors have done too little to improve the work of the school since the previous inspection.

“The quality of education at the school has declined. Leaders and governors are entirely reliant on help from experts from outside the school to make the improvements that are urgently required.

“The new acting leaders have worked tirelessly to address the shortcomings at the school. Even so, there is much to do to tackle the many deep-rooted weaknesses that remain.”

Inspectors said the curriculum was not effective and pupils do not gain knowledge in a logical order. They also pointed out that it does not enable disadvantaged pupils to achieve as well as they should and that these children were "ill-prepared for future success because they do not receive the support that they need.”

Despite the school’s failures inspectors recognised that pupils behave well and take pride in their work. “They are polite and well mannered. Most parents and carers have no concerns about pupils’ behaviour

at the school,” the report said.

Christine Weaving, chairman of the school's governing body, said: "The judgement is not what we would have hoped for, but it is the case that sufficient improvements have not been made since the last Ofsted inspection despite the hard work of staff over the last few months.

"In their report, it is important to note that inspectors have highlighted some key strengths in the school with the behaviour and attitudes of children judged to be good, as is the personal development of pupils.

"We appreciate that the situation has the potential to create uncertainty and concern for parents and families. We have moved to reassure them that, with support from the local authority and our joint governance and interim leadership arrangements in place, all is being done to continue to bring about urgent improvement, with inspectors positive in their feedback of the plans and steps we are implementing."