OUTSTANDING leadership is not enough to save a Bury school set for closure because of dwindling numbers.

A report by Ofsted, the Office for Standards in Education, has heaped praise on Brandlesholme County Primary School, but it is still destined to become the first school to be closed by Bury Council.

Headteacher Mr Ian Young said: "This report reflects the dedication and commitment of all staff.

"I am obviously very pleased with the outcome of this inspection but I am still not satisfied with the well publicised reasons as to why the council rejected amalgamation in favour of closing this much-improved primary school."

The inspection was carried out in February of this year and described Brandlesholme as "a school that positively helps pupils to develop good manners, to care about others and to know the difference between right and wrong".

Mr Young was cited for inspiring staff, assisting the governors to be more effective in their role, and helping pupils to have pride in their achievements."

A positive ethos was said to exist within the school, where 50 per cent of children have special educational needs.

The pupils were described as "well-behaved and responsible" who received very good guidance in their welfare and personal development.

The reporting inspector stated: "The school has improved considerably since the appointment of the current headteacher, just over a year ago. All of the key issues have been at least satisfactorily addressed. "A very useful discipline and anti-bullying policy is now in place, which is clearly influencing the standards of behaviour throughout the school.

"The school has worked hard and successfully to improve attainment in English, particularly in reading."

However, the report did identify a number of weaknesses. The standard of writing was said to have improved but was still unsatisfactory, standards of attainment remained below average for mathematics and science at the end of Key Stage 2, assessment and marking could be improved, and existing programmes of work do not sufficiently help pupils to build on previous learning experiences.

Standards achieved by 11-year-olds in 1998 found that the number of pupils attaining the national average was below average in English and well below average in mathematics and science. However, compared with schools that are similar, standards are above average in English, and are in line in science and below average in mathematics.

In the 1998 year group, nearly a quarter of the pupils were identified as having special educational needs and did not take the tests, resulting in the total level for English being defined as below average.

However, the inspection showed that the strengths of the school far outweighed any weaknesses and inspectors underlined the fact that the standards of education, commitment of the headteacher and staff, as well as the support of parents whose children attend, have had nothing to do with the school's demise.

When the inspection was carried out, the threat of closure still hung over the school. Despite that, the inspectors found a very positive ethos and described morale as high. The behaviour of pupils was consistently good with the children highly-motivated and enthusiastic.

Mrs Jean Evans, chairman of the governors, said: "It is ironic that the first school this authority decides to close is one that has received such a positive Ofsted inspection report. The governing body is very proud of all the staff and the hard work that has gone on in the last 15 months."

The school will now concentrate on raising standards in mathematics and science, improving the quality of writing throughout the school, improving the use of assessment, and improving the quality of marking.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.