A PRIMARY school which was placed under special measures one year ago has made some improvements in the eyes of educational watchdogs.

But officials from Ofsted are still concerned about achievement levels, especially in writing skills, at Great Marsden St John's CE school in Nelson.

Inspectors have just completed their second monitoring visit since the Trent Road school was deemed to be failing in November 2006.

Significant changes have been made to the church school since then, with two experienced teachers recruited to boost Great Marsden's learning provisions and a temporary member of staff taken on to cover for a long-term sickness absence.

Garry Jones, the Ofsted inspector who led the Great Marsden visit, says that overall the school is making satisfactory' progress in its bid to come out of special measures, and since a previous monitoring exercise in April.

In a letter to headteacher Lesley Fitzpatrick he has praised the raised standards he witnessed in teaching.

"Initiatives to improve the quality of teaching and learning have begun to take effect," he said.

But he warns that too much of the teaching employed is merely satisfactory' and that planned activities in classes do not always meet pupils' requirements.

The behaviour of pupils, seen as a strength even when teaching standards were below par, has been maintained, according to the three-strong inspection team.

And incidents of name-calling and bullying have declined, according to the pupils themselves.

Pupils in Key Stage Two have improved their attainment levels to just below the national average, and even surpassed the norm in science.

And Foundation stage youngsters are also said to be making good progress.

But Mr Jones says standards in writing fell dramatically and were exceptionally low'. The achievements of boys in class was identified as a particular weakness.

The level of inconsistency between the standards of teaching between different classes also needs to be addressed.

Work on raising achievement levels and standards was deemed unsatisfactory' by the inspector.

Lancashire education authority was praised for offering a variety of training opportunities for staff but criticised for not offering mentoring services for the headteacher.

Mr Jones concluded that an improvement in writing skills, and constant monitoring of the school's own action plan, should be the priorities for the headteacher and governors in the coming months.