Damning report on first school

A FAILING infants school has been placed on special measures after being the subject of a damning Ofsted report.

King's Wood First School, in Totteridge Lane, High Wycombe, is among a handful of schools which inspectors found provided sub-standard education.

Inspectors said the school provided unsatisfactory value for money and a vast majority of students, particularly high attainers, made poor progress in English, maths, science, information technology and religious education.

Their report said that pupils benefited from a good start at the school's Early Years' Unit but found their education was well below the national average, and below average compared with similar schools when they left school.

Weaknesses in leadership and the management of the school was also highlighted and teaching was identified as being unsatisfactory in one in five lessons.

George Crowther, who led the inspection team, said: 'It is the view of the inspection team that the school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education, and thus requires special measures.'

The school, which has 120 pupils and 38 in the Early Years' Unit, was last inspected in October 1997, and inspectors found serious weaknesses in pupils' attainment and the leadership and management of the school.

King's Wood First made some inroads in improving seven-year-olds' reading and maths in 1998, but the results declined to 'well below average' in 1999 and have remained at that level, according to the report.

Frances Alexander, chairman of governors, said: 'We have a dedicated head teacher who has done a great deal of work to raise standards and our SAT results show higher achievement.

'We recognise that there are still areas for improvement and we're working with the county council to provide a plan to guide us forward.'

The school has until the end of October to draw up an action plan with Buckinghamshire County Council to show how it will tackle improvements.