A primary school in South Gloucestershire has lost its 'outstanding' status.
Hawkesbury Church of England Primary School was given the top rating by the education watchdog in 2014.
But in a new report this month, Ofsted said the school in Hawkesbury Upton, Badminton, ‘requires improvement’.
Pointing to a “decline in standards” in the past four years, the watchdog’s harshest criticism was reserved for the quality of education at the school and its leadership and management.
Inspectors who visited the school in September found that “standards in reading and mathematics have declined in both key stage 1 and 2”.
“Leaders and governors are aware of many of the reasons for this,” they wrote.
“However, they have not acted quickly enough.
“Governors should ensure that leadership systems are suitably robust and that plans are suitably precise to ensure that the school offers a consistently good quality of education.”
The report noted pupils’ reading skills were “not as strong as they need to be” and that teaching in some foundation subjects, such as history, is “not strong enough”.
“Pupils with SEND (special educational needs and/or disabilities) are making progress, but more can be done to help them,” it added.
But pupils enjoy their time at school, generally behave well in class, have a “good understanding” of different cultures and religious beliefs, and bullying is “very rare”, inspectors observed.
Safeguarding is “effective”, and the school provides a “broad range of opportunities” for pupils, they said.
The inspectors noted the fall in standards accompanied a period of unstable leadership at the school, but that there had been “clear improvements” since the appointment of an executive headteacher in September last year.
“The school has gone through a period of turbulence in leadership over recent years,” they wrote.
“This has resulted in a decline in standards.
“Since the appointment of the executive headteacher in September 2018, improvements can clearly be seen.
“Nevertheless, the executive headteacher and governors are under no illusion about the significant amount of work to be done to improve the curriculum and the quality of teaching.”
The school partnered with Iron Acton primary schools in September 2018.
Executive headteacher Mike Riches was appointed to oversee the work of both schools.
Mr Riches said: “I’m really pleased with the progress Hawkesbury school has made over the last 12 months.
“We have a lot of committed members of staff who are committed to seeing us move forward in a positive way and I’m confident that will happen.
“The school is a positive place and we are on a positive journey moving forward.”
Mr Riches said the Ofsted report was in line with the school’s own assessment of its strengths and weaknesses.
