THE achievement of pupils at a Blackburn primary school is continuing to cause concern, inspectors said.

Ofsted visited St Anthony’s RC Primary School, which was told it required improvement earlier this year, to monitor its progress.

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But inspector Leszek Iwanskow said progress at the Shadsworth Road school ‘remains inconsistent’.

He said: “Although there is a desire to change, currently there is no sense of urgency or clear direction in how to improve provision.

“Overall standards are below national levels. In general, boys out perform girls and there is an over-reliance on intervention strategies to boost outcomes for pupils.”

Mr Iwanskow said an action plan had been put into place to improve standards following the initial inspection, but that it ‘lacks the specific detail needed to address many of the points for improvement’.

Among the problems initially highlighted were the ‘inconsistent’ marking of pupils’ work, writing skills that were below par and not enough opportunities for the most able pupils to do harder work.

However a number of strengths were also mentioned, with maths being taught well, pupils doing well in competitive sports and children being made to feel safe at school.

A large group of pupils from Poland who had recently joined St Antony’s had also settled in well and were making good progress.

Mr Leszek said that to come out of the ‘requires improvement’ category, school leaders needed to do more. He also expressed concerns that external support which had been offered had not always been accepted.

The inspector said: “The current crisis has made it clear that governors need to be more pro-active in challenging and holding school management to account.”

Additional support is also to be given by Blackburn with Darwen Council Nobody from the school was available for comment.