A HEREFORD primary school is still in need of improvement, an inspection team has found.

St Martin’s Primary School was visited by Ofsted last month with inspectors concluding changes to the curriculum have taken too long to have an effect on pupils’ progress.

The government inspection body judged the school as requiring improvement in every area except its early years provision which was deemed ‘good’.

Lead inspector Martin Spoor has told school bosses that teachers need to ensure pupils receive sufficient guidance on how to improve their work in all subjects.

He also said the parents of a small number of children who are guilty of poor behaviour should understand the “values and expectations of the school”.

Teaching was also judged to be in need of improvement.

“Progress in writing requires improvement in both key stages,” said Mr Spoor.

“Teachers do not routinely insist on well-formed joined handwriting, and do not place a consistent emphasis on accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar.”

Pupils’ achievement had improved on the previous year but there is still work to do, according to the inspection team.

The report concluded that disadvantaged pupils ended Year Six about three terms behind pupils nationally in writing and maths, and nearly four terms behind in reading.

However, the teaching of phonics - which focuses on letters and the sounds they make - in the Early Years Foundation Stage and at Key Stage 1, was praised.

“Teachers adopt a consistent approach, and pupils learn to tackle unfamiliar words confident that they are able to sound them out.”

The school will now be subject to a full inspection.