HEAD teacher Rob Cooper says his school is making rapid progress in addressing areas where inspectors have called for improvements.

Mr Cooper joined Comberbach Primary School in September, and was speaking in the wake of an Ofsted report which rated the school as ‘requiring improvement’.

The report followed an inspection in May, and identified a number of areas where inspectors said improvement was needed.

These include the quality of teaching, behaviour and achievement of pupils, leadership and management and governance.

The school scored a rating of three in all the areas it was rated on, following a ‘good’ rating of two following an inspection in 2011.

The school will receive a full inspection within 12 months of the inspection in May.

Mr Cooper said: “This term we are really starting to see the fruits of our labour. We are witnessing accelerated progress in many of the areas judged by Ofsted as requiring improvement.”

The three-year decline in standards in maths and reading had been halted, he said, and more children were achieving higher levels of progress and attainment this year.

“Children are making accelerated progress, which will address the deficit that has accrued in recent years,” he said.

Mr Cooper added the school was receiving ‘fantastic’ support from parents, who were positive about the changes and improvements which had already been made.

“We are not complacent, and are committed to continuing to improve and make rapid progress,” he said.

“Comberbach is a school with high aspirations and a bright future. We intend to move out of the requiring improvement category as quickly as possible.”

Chairman of governors Matthew Lord said the school had had some difficult years for a number of reasons.

“However I am pleased the report recognises our new head teacher is providing strong leadership, and this is having a positive impact on the school,” he said.

The report said teaching was too variable, and pupils did not achieve well enough in years one to six, particularly in writing and mathematics.

Pupils’ attitudes to learning and behaviour in lessons were not consistently good, it added, and governors had not held leaders to account enough for weaknesses in teaching and achievement.

It said the new head teacher provided strong leadership, and due to recent improvements by leaders in the teaching of reading and mathematics pupils looked set to reach higher levels in both by the end of years two and six.