A Bradford primary school with a catalogue of problems has been slated by Ofsted inspectors.

St Augustine's Primary was criticised for "very poor" leadership and management, low morale among staff, dreadful behaviour by pupils and a massive budget overspend of £250,000.

The school, in Undercliffe, has now been placed in special measures after the damning indictment led to the head teacher resigning.

A trouble-shooting consultant head has now been sent in and plans are being put in place to bring the school back on track.

The report after an inspection in May said it was failing to care properly for pupils, because it was not tackling bullying. There were high levels of physical violence and poor discipline which prevented pupils from learning even when the teaching was good.

Standards of writing among some of the youngest pupils were in the lowest five per cent in the country.

The report said Year Six children would not use the toilets because there was no privacy and health and safety risks included unchecked electrical equipment in classrooms and a dangerous fence.

Head teacher Jan Cawley resigned after the report, which strongly criticised the school's management. The school's leadership, governing body, monitoring and strategic planning were all dubbed "very poor" - the lowest rating available to the inspection team.

"Pupils frequently show little respect for others and for teaching and support staff," the report said. "Behaviour is unsatisfactory overall, although it is good in the Foundation Stage. In Years Three to Six there is a high number of incidents of physical violence between pupils."

The report lays the blame for the children's behaviour firmly with the school, which failed to apply proper policies, or offer proper training for teachers.

Children were not even told to bring a parents' note to explain days off.

Ofsted inspectors found that older age groups suffered a stream of different supply teachers which impacted on their teaching, but when taught properly by certain members of staff, pupils were respectful and disciplined.

In other classes, "pupils show little self control and self discipline... unruly behaviour and bursts of noise readily occur. A high number of incidents of physical violence was recorded among pupils in Key Stage Two."

The report said the youngest children were well taught and had better accommodation than the other age groups, which occupy a separate site half a mile away.

"It's a dreadful report," said Councillor David Ward, executive member for education. The school is the sixth in the city to fail an Ofsted inspection this year.

"There's been a huge swathe of special measures and serious weaknesses in schools, but I think we have peaked now," said Coun Ward. "They will start to improve. Heads are resigning and moving out. There's some incredible changes taking place."

Education Bradford has appointed experienced troubleshooter Christine Harrison as consultant head teacher: she starts in September. The school moves into a multi-million pound new building early in 2003.

Jane Riley, an experienced chair of governors at another school, is also a recent appointment as chair of the governing body.

"We fully accept the findings of the Ofsted report and are naturally very concerned about the situation," Mrs Riley said.

"Work has started to tackle issues such as assessment, pupil behaviour and finances."

A parent, who did not wish to be named, said: "Since the parents' meeting parents have said they have far greater confidence in the school. I am certain we can move forward and get out of special measures. Talking to other mums in the playground today they were saying exactly the same thing. They had been worried, but after meeting the consultant head Mrs Harrison, we were really impressed with her."

Ian Murch, of the Bradford branch of the National Union of Teachers, warned the huge budget deficit was "a potential disaster" for the school as it would be tremendously difficult to cut costs at the same time as raising standards.

Mrs Riley acknowledged that under LEA policy, the debt could not be written off. "We have a massive debt, there's nothing much we can do about it in the short term but we are taking a long term view," she said.