STAFF at a school in Blackbird Leys say there is still a “long journey” ahead of them in the wake of another critical inspection report.

Windale Primary School was visited by inspectors on October 6 and 7 after being placed in special measures by watchdog Ofsted in March.

In the new report published last week, inspector Sarah Hubbard said: “Leaders and managers are not taking effective action towards the removal of special measures.”

She cited issues with pupil achievement and teachers’ ability to plan for their needs.

But Jill Hudson, executive head of the Blackbird Academy Trust (BAT), which runs Windale, Orchard Meadow and Pegasus primaries, said: “There was a lot to do at Windale.

“It has been a big task and the only way to tackle a big task is to prioritise. We still have a big improvement journey ahead of us.”

Key priorities for the school identified in the report included improving teaching and management, and increasing achievement in literacy and maths.

Although progress on the whole was slow, it was noted that teachers were now better at marking and youngsters were better behaved at playtime, if not in class. The school is now fully-staffed and has appointed a special needs co-ordinator.

Pupils have also made progress passing exams in phonics. Mrs Hudson added: “The things that we have looked at – marking, finding teachers, which was remarkably difficult, and improving behaviour – have all improved.

“Year Six results have improved significantly and we focused on phonics in Year One as a priority. We had appalling results in 2014 and five per cent passed the test, but in 2015, 68 per cent passed. We are not far off national scores now, but it takes more than a term.”

At the start of this term Windale had a new head, Matthew Wynne, who has a history of lifting schools out of special measures.

The three schools he previously headed in Birmingham all came out of special measures under his leadership.

He said: “Obviously we don’t want the report to say what it says in all of those aspects. But it’s a fair assessment of where we were at that point.

“For me the word that comes to mind is consistency. Historically large numbers of children are not being challenged enough, which is why the school’s results are what they are.”

The next inspection is in January.