The headteacher of an East Lancashire primary school says they will “continue to work tirelessly” to address areas of development after they were rated as requiring improvement by Ofsted.

St Cuthbert’s Church of England Primary School in St Albans Road, Darwen, was deemed to be an outstanding school by the education body following a visit in April 2017.

However, a two-day inspection held in May of this year found the school to have dropped to requiring improvement.

Ofsted said the school needs to improve in quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.

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Early years provision at the school was deemed to be good.

Headteacher Emily Coolican said: “During the recent inspection, Ofsted recognised that the school is on a journey.

"Areas which have been focussed on are in a positive position, such as the revised curriculum and attendance.

“Safeguarding is effective and pupils are ‘happy and safe’ at the school.

“Governors and leaders are aware of what the school needs to do to improve and have clearly planned actions to address these.

"We continue to prioritise children’s personal development and well-being in line with our school's Christian values and seek ways to educate and prepare children for life in modern Britain.

“School leaders and staff would like to thank our parents and school community for their continuing support as we continue to work tirelessly to address areas for development and ensure we provide the children in our care with the very best education.”

The Ofsted report said that after a period of staffing turbulence, the school is “beginning to raise its expectations” for what pupils should achieve.

They said the school has “overhauled its curriculum” to make it more ambitious but there has not been enough time to see the full impact of these changes on pupils’ attainment and progress.

The report continued: “The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was clearly felt at this school.

"Pupils returned to school with large gaps in their learning. Unforeseen staffing changes soon followed.

“This had a considerable impact on the school. In turn, this led to an erosion in the quality of education.

READ MORE: Darwen St James Primary School still inadequate says Ofsted

“Staffing has now started to stabilise. New governors and senior leaders have been appointed. They are becoming increasingly effective in their roles.

“The school has engaged well with the local authority and other external partners to address many of the issues, including some of those related to the quality of education.

“The school is now back on the right track. It has the capacity to bring about further improvements."

The school is likely to be inspected sometime within the next 30 months, or at any time if concerns are raised to Ofsted.