School inspectors have told teachers at a primary school it ‘requires improvement’.

But behaviour and safety of pupils was found to be good at Accrington St Mary Magdalen’s Church of England Primary School.

Headteacher Mrs Karen Hardman said the inspector told staff the Devonshire Street school should be graded ‘good’ in the near future.

She said: “We know exactly where we need to make improvements, and it was heartening that the areas identified in our school development plan were the same as those picked up by the inspectors. However, I’d like to emphasise that the Ofsted judgement does not apply across the board.

“Our results for 2013 were better than the national average in reading and writing, and we expect to excel in reading, writing and maths in 2014 and then every year after that.

“All our current teachers in school have been rated as good by Ofsted, behaviour is good, and everyone is working together well.”

Ofsted inspectors reported that teaching has not been ‘good enough’ for long enough to ensure that pupils make consistently good progress in reading, writing and mathematics between Years 1 and 6.

They also added that teaching assistants are not always effectively used and the school’s system for tracking pupils’ progress is not fully reliable.

But the report added that children in Reception class had made good progress, with their reading and writing improving, while the overall quality of teaching has improved.