RIVER Mead Primary School in Melksham is making reasonable progress in addressing serious weaknesses that were previously found by Ofsted, according to their latest report.

In January, the school in Lowbourne was found to have several flaws in its quality of teaching and the effectiveness of leadership and management.

But in the new monitoring inspection report, Ofsted found “senior leaders are strengthening the drive for improvement in all the areas” and “as a result, staff are now very clear about what is required to ensure pupils make more rapid progress in their learning.”

Inspector Peter Linn added: “Lesson plans focus rigorously on the learning that pupils of all abilities are expected to master. The rigour of target setting has improved significantly so that all staff and governors understand how leaders will address any underperformance and missed goals.

“A revised staffing structure is being applied. One consequence of this is that the leadership of the school’s provision for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and disabilities has been strengthened considerably.”

The report also said that the new staff structure was a contributing factor to the improvements.

However, it also found that some leaders do not undertake reviews and evaluations as well as others.

Headteacher Nicki Henderson said although she felt the term “reasonable” did not do the improvements justice, she welcomed the findings.

“They have said we are making progress in the areas that were identified and we are really pleased because everyone has been working really hard on them," she said.

“The pleasing thing is that we can see the results in our children who took the Key Stage 2 SATS. The national floor rate is 65 per cent but our children managed to reach 69 per cent last year and the year before that it was down at 47 per cent so we have improved a long way in just 12 months.

“We have seen a greater excitement from the children about their learning and that will continue to be our focus this year where we are looking to celebrate children’s increased responsibility where they take control of their own learning.

“Like all rivers, we are on a journey and progressing was part of our journey. It is a continuation and will be building on the improvements that have already been made.”