A Coventry school has been told it needs to take special measures to improve following a government inspection.

Ofsted inspectors decided that Gosford Park Primary School in Humber Avenue, Stoke, should be put in the special category after a two-day visit on 31 January and 1 February.

They said that the school needed to go into special measures because “it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education.”

A previous inspection in November 1998 revealed that the school had serious weaknesses.

The governors, headteacher, staff and education authority have been told to focus on certain areas to improve the pupils’ education.

They have been ordered to:

• Raise the level of achievement in English, maths and science through the school and use assessment to ensure that individual pupils make the progress they are capable of.
• Improve pupils’ attitude to work and their behaviour throughout the day
• Raise teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve, of their attitudes to work an their behaviour.
• Ensure that the headteacher, senior staff and governors monitor the work of the school closely and evaluate its progress.

Headteacher Judith Olney said:

“The staff and governors are committed to raising standards and are already taking action to improve the quality of education at the school.

Jim Muncey, Chief Advisor for Coventry City Council Education Department said:

“The report recognised that the school had been through a difficult period, including considerable staff absence at a senior level.,

“The current headteacher took up her appointment in January 1999, and has succeeded in raising the morale of the teaching staff, providing stability and support.

“As yet some of her actions to raise standards at the school have not yet had time to impact on pupils’ attainment.

“Coventry City Council’s educations service will continue to work closely with the headteacher staff and governors in producing and implementing an action plan, designed to raise standards, monitor the work of the school and evaluate progress.”

Cllr George Duggins, chairman of the Education and Cultural Affairs Policy Co-ordinating Committee, added: