THE HEADTEACHER of Halwill Primary School has pledged to improve leadership and management following an Ofsted report which highlighted them as weaknesses of the school. But the primary was also praised for many aspects.

Inspectors visited Halwill Primary in March at the height of the foot and mouth outbreak. They conceded the crisis was having an impact on the school but judged that it still had serious weaknesses to address, particularly in its provision for younger children.

Praise included the high standards achieved by 11-year-olds in the National Curriculum SATS tests in English, maths and science, good behaviour of pupils and high quality relationships between children and adults.

Headteacher Nigel Hakes this week said he had already re-organised classes for children in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage One and he vowed to review the school's systems and processes to improve leadership and management.

The inspectors found 85 per cent of the lessons they observed were satisfactory or better and almost half were good or very good. But lessons at Foundation and Key Stage One were highlighted as unsatisfactory and they criticised poor accommodation and insufficient staffing levels.

Mr Hakes said the school had been campaigning for some time for money to improve school buildings.

He said during the inspection one learning support assistant had been confined to her farm because of foot and mouth while another was also running the playgroup because the playgroup leader was similarly affected.

In addition, a significant amount of foundation stage training was hit because of the outbreak.

Mr Hakes said it was not the best climate to embark on an inspection.

He added that three different groups of children were all being taught in one class — a common situation in Devon schools — but since the inspection a grant had been put in place to increase staffing and split up classes.

The headteacher, who had been committed for four and a half days teaching a week, admitted the staff and governors would have to look at the school's organisation systems and processes so he could devote more time to guiding the overall educational direction of the school.

Educational advisors from Devon County Council would also be helping the school draw up an action plan which would detail how the OFSTED criticisms would be addressed.