Teaching, leadership and development of pupils at a West Dorset school have been criticised.

Following Ofsted's inspection of St Michael’s Primary School, Lyme Regis, the school’s category has been downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.

The school had been inspected in January, when it was judged as ‘good’, but because of recent changes to the Ofsted Inspection Framework it was subject to a further full inspection five months later.

The school has been graded as 'requires improvement' in all five assessment areas: effectiveness of leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare; outcomes for pupils and early years provision.

Inspectors found governors have not held leaders to account 'sufficiently to halt the decline in standards, especially at Key Stage 2.'

Although attendance overall has improved at the school, inspectors found attendance of the most vulnerable pupils has not yet reached national averages. A report states: 'Too many children in reception are not achieving their early learning goals, especially in literacy and mathematics.

'Some teachers’ expectations are too low. As a result, the most able pupils, including the disadvantaged, are not achieving at greater depth. Governors have not been vigilant in ensuring the funding for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities is used to improve pupils’ academic success.'

Inspectors praised the school for keeping pupils safe and found that pupils 'have positive attitudes and are ready and eager to learn.'

During the inspection, they were impressed there is 'real determination to improve outcomes for pupils and while many policies have been put in place recently, it is too soon for them to have measurable impact.'

Headteacher, Nick Kiddle, said: “We are pleased the inspection recognised where we have started to implement changes to make more rapid progress in improving the outcomes for our children, even since our previous inspection in January.

“The governors, leaders and staff are very aware of our current position and the need to raise expectations and standards. We have an openness to advice and constructive criticism which will help us address the key findings in the report.

“We look forward to working with all our parents, staff, governors, the county council and the diocese to ensure that we continue to do the very best for our children.”