SENIOR leaders ‘are not taking effective action’ to tackle areas which need improvement at Churchfield School despite its ‘requires improvement’ rating, Ofsted says.

Inspectors visited the Highbridge school for a monitoring visit on January 28 and met with senior leaders to discuss the school’s progress.

A report published by inspectors on February 28 highlighted that children at the school are still struggling with phonics and reading as a number of weaknesses have not been addressed.

Stewart Gale, the Ofsted inspector who published the report, said: “The senior leaders and trust are not taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection in order for the school to become good.

“Despite making needed improvements, there are still too many weaknesses that are barriers to raising pupils’ achievement quickly enough, in particular, the teaching of phonics and reading.

“Pupils are still exposed to misconceptions, such as: incorrect explanations of the value of different digits for calculating in mathematics or providing text which is too difficult for pupils to gain speed.

“There are inconsistencies in the teaching of phonics and weak assessments in phonics and teaching which act as a barrier to raising achievement in these areas.”

However, inspectors also praised the school and said it has ‘established systems’ to hold teachers to account.

They said the school has made some‘strong appointments’ in its leadership team in the last year and ‘leaders share skills, knowledge and expertise’ to lead the school.

The report states: “You have challenged teachers to improve and raise their expectations of what pupils can achieve, as well as improving pupils’ attitudes to learning. This has ensured that teaching and learning are improving.”

Justin Philcox, headteacher of Churchfield School, said the school is ‘determined to build’ on improvements that have been made in the last year.

He said: “All of us in the school leadership team, our governors and the Bath and Wells Multi Academy Trust are committed to the children and community of Churchfield Church School.

“We are proud of all that pupils, teachers, governors and the Churchfield community have achieved together and are determined to build on the strong improvements made over the past year, when SATS results improved significantly to bring us just 1 per cent below the national average.

“Now with stable, consistent leadership in the school we can address the key development areas that Ofsted have identified with complete commitment, as part of school development plan.”