A TYNEDALE primary school has failed to convince Ofsted inspectors that its standards are improving.

Whitfield Primary has been unable to reverse a “legacy of underachievement” according to its fourth monitoring inspection since beingplaced in special measures in May last year.

The inspection in June also levelled heavy criticism at Northumberland County Council.

In a letter to the school, Ofsted’s Lee Owston accused the local authority of supplying inaccurate data on the school’s progress.

This resulted, he said, in staff and governors holding “too rosy a view of pupils’ accomplishments over time.”

He said: “The local authority has not ensured the external moderation process at Whitfield is robust, or fit for purpose.

“Inaccurate assessment and flawed achievement data continue to thwart leaders’ attempts to move the school forward rapidly.

“While leaders and governors should have trust and confidence in the information these processes yield, they have been presented, unacceptably, with misleading information about pupils’ achievements.”

The county council has been supporting Whitfield with assessment methods, using experts in the field from other Northumberland schools and external moderators from another North-East local authority.

The council’s cabinet member for children’s services, Coun. Robert Arckless, said the council would be writing to Ofsted to discuss the findings of the report.

“The school, the local authority and the external moderators were all in agreement that the assessment levels at Whitfield were accurate, so the view from the inspector involved in the latest Ofsted monitoring visit was unexpected,” he said.

The Ofsted report also found that the school’s leaders had failed to prioritise teaching as a way to drive improvement.

Teaching skills were questioned, with the school’s own data revealing over half of key stage one pupils had made no progress in writing since the last monitoring inspection in March, while key stage two pupils were said to be under-achieving in writing and mathematics.

It continued: “Insufficient focus has been given to improving the quality of teaching so that it remains inadequate.

“Urgent attention needs to be given to improving teachers’ assessment skills. Staff are unable to judge the quality of pupils’ work accurately, consequently they struggle to pitch lessons at an appropriately challenging level.”

With low expectations, pupils showed lack of pride in their work, but attitudes were showing signs of improvement due to a recent initiative and the inspection found that pupils were eager to learn.

Teaching of reading was also improving and pupils were progressing in the subject.

The instability at leadership level was criticised for creating a lack of continuity and urgency, at the expense of improving teaching and raising achievement.

“Enhancing the skills and confidence of staff has taken a back seat for too long,” the report added.

The primary school is part of the West Tyne Federation where head teacher Judith Reay was confirmed as being absent from her post by the Diocese of Newcastle.

In her place, Erica Carter has been appointed acting head of the primary school for 15 months on a secondment basis from Ponteland Middle Teaching School.

The remaining federated schools of Greenhead, Henshaw and Herdley Bank are being led by senior leadership teams with the support of the local authority.

The monitoring inspection concluded that Mrs Carter’s appointment would bring “the right level of expertise, drive and energy to make a greater difference at Whitfield”.