STAFF and governors at a Okehampton Primary School say they are taking positive steps to raise standards and improve achievement in writing and mathematics, following a failed report by Ofsted inspectors.

The school standards agency Ofsted praised the school for what parents described as its caring, friendly and family atmosphere.

Nearly all the parents who returned their questionnaire held positive views of the school.

But inspectors found the overall effectiveness of the school, its achievements and its leadership were inadequate.

They found effective steps had not been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection and have placed the school into what is termed 'special measures'.

Head teacher of Okehampton Primary School, Brain Cunningham, said he was disappointed, but determined to turn the report into an advantage for the school.

He said: 'We are not deluding ourselves that there is not a job to be done and we all want our children's achievements to improve.

'We were aware that we needed to improve progress in maths and writing and we had already sought help and guidance from local authority consultants who have been supporting us to put into practice a number of initiatives.

'The inspectors refer to these, but say they have not yet had sufficient time to work and they told me that they could not judge the school on intentions.'

The Ofsted report states that recent support from the local authority in literacy and numeracy and a renewed emphasis on the national intensifying support programme, are starting to give focus and to bring improvement, but the school still has a long way to go.

Ofsted Inspector Karl Sampson said: 'Children make a good start to their education in both the nursery and reception classes.

'During activities that children initiate themselves, they display strong personal, social and emotional skills — they all behave well, are independent, confident and able to share and communicate with their peers and adults.'

Mr Sampson said while the curriculum made a strong contribution to some aspects of pupils' personal development, weaknesses in the provision for literacy and numeracy resulted in pupils making insufficient progress in writing and mathematics.

He said: 'This is because planning in these subjects does not always ensure that pupils move on well enough from year to year.

'Although the school has recently adapted its use of revised national strategies for literacy and numeracy, these changes have not yet had time to have sufficient impact on pupils' performance.'

The school is now revising its planning to give better links between different subjects, and more opportunities for pupils to practise their skills in writing and mathematics.

Mr Sampson said with the help of intensive external support, the school had started to evaluate its actions more rigourously.

He said: 'The school is developing a more realistic view of its strengths and where it needs to focus its energies.

'This has led to the recent introduction of a tightly focused action plan to raise pupils' attainment.

'The school makes a good contribution to community cohesion at a local level, but recognises that further work is needed in developing wider cultural and global links.'

The school has recently introduced a new system for pupils to engage in one-to-one discussion with teachers about their progress.

Headteacher Mr Cunningham said: 'The staff and governing body are committed to raising academic standards, but we are determined to continue to provide the high level of pastoral care that is essential to the children's social and emotional well being — qualities for which we have been consistently praised by a number of other outside agencies.

'We believe that children are lamps to be lit and not pots to be filled.

'We will use this report to build on our existing strengths and ensure our children all enjoy rising standards in addition to the good care and support they already receive.'

Okehampton Primary School recently held a meeting with parents, staff, governors and a representative from Devon County Council Children and Young People's Services, to discuss the outcome of the report and what measures the school will be taking to improve and move forwards.