A SHIPLEY school has been rated inadequate following a recent inspection.

Education watchdog Ofsted visited Shipley CofE Primary School, Otley Road, in May and has recommended the school be placed in special measures.

It was last inspected in 2015 and after that visit, was told it needed to improve.

The latest report says “leaders and governors have failed to improve pupils’ achievement or the quality of teaching well enough” since then.

It says that, until very recently, safeguarding arrangements were ineffective and and the “persistent absence of pupils who are disadvantaged remains too high”.

It outlines that leaders, other than the recently-appointed head teacher, “have not developed the skills they need to fulfil their roles effectively” and that pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those with low prior attainment and those who speak English as an additional language, make poor progress across a wide range of subjects.

Outcomes achieved by children in the early years are ruled “inadequate” and inspectors say adults do not have high enough expectations of what children can do. However, it praises the head teacher for identifying improvements for the school and says that stronger teaching is helping pupils to catch up. Pupils are deemed to “want to learn and do well” and are praised for being polite.

Head teacher Angela Smith said: “Although we are clearly disappointed with the outcome of the Ofsted inspection, we accept its findings and I want to reassure parents that we are already working on the areas of improvement needed to ensure we can deliver a good standard of education for their children.”

She added that “significant measures” were now in place to improve teaching and learning and substantial changes had been made since her appointment in January.

Mrs Smith added: “Our immediate priority now is to continue to increase the leadership capacity in the school. With a strong leadership team in place, we are confident that our committed staff and pupils will help us to secure a good judgement at our next Ofsted inspection.”

Judith Kirk, Bradford Council’s deputy director for education, employment and skills, said the authority was working closely with the school to bring about improvements.

She said: “We all recognise that the school has not made adequate progress in the past.

“We will continue to support and challenge the school to ensure that it improves and with the leadership and changes that are now in place we are confident that it will.”