Teaching standards at Joseph Cash primary school are at least satisfactory or good on over half of the lessons observed according to a recent OFSTED inspection on 12 and 13 November 1998.

The school situated in Owenford Road has 317 pupils. Over 40% of the pupils are of non-white ethnic origin, the majority of whom are of Asian heritage. About a third of the pupils have a first language other than English. About 40% of the pupils are identified as having special educational needs, and a similar proportion are entitled to free school meals.

Since the 1997 inspection, the school has been successful in addressing five out of the nine Key Issues. However, in accordance with Section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school requires special measures since it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education.

Headteacher Mike Dewsbery acknowledges that there is work to be done in response to the findings in the report. ""Since our Ofsted Inspection in June 1997 we have been working hard to implement out Action Plan. We have made some progress in all nine Key Issues for Action. We have made satisfactory progress in five of them. The report of the recent inspection highlights those areas where we know there is still work to do."

The chair of governors, Phil Jackson said: "There is praise for pupils’ spiritual, moral, personal, social and cultural development and for their attitude to learning and their general behaviour. These are important too."

The main findings of the inspection are;

At Key Stage 1, standards in writing and mathematics are satisfactory, but in reading and science pupils’ attainment is lower than it should be. In English, Science and Mathematics at Key Stage 2 and pupils do not make enough progress.

In over half of the lessons teaching was sound or good, in the remainder teaching was unsatisfactory or poor.

The school management team has been successful in providing a secure environment and in encouraging staff to work to get there, however standards of attainment and teaching are not monitored sufficiently, and planning for school development has proceeded at too slow a pace.

Behaviour around the school, in classes and the playground was generally sound but a small minority of pupils lack self-discipline.

The progress by the school in addressing the nine key issues was satisfactory in five of the areas.