While Hawthorns First School in Poplar Road was praised for many strengths by inspectors after their visit last December, they felt improvement since the last inspection had not been fast enough and have issued the school with a Notice to Improve.

In their report, inspectors said the school did not provide an acceptable standard of education for all its pupils and significant improvement was needed in relation to achievements, standards, teaching, learning, leadership and management.

But according to head teacher Kathy Offer, the school and parents were incredibly disappointed with the report as they felt it was not a true picture of the school.

Mrs Offer said: "We are shocked by the report, as it is not reflective of our school. It is just a snapshot.

"I, the staff and governing body, with the support of the local authority, are committed to bringing about the required improvements and removing the causes of the Notice to Improve as soon as possible."

"Some of the issues identified by the inspection team were already priorities for the school and an appropriate action plan is being written and implemented.

"While disappointed with the outcomes of the inspection, all those associated with the school have confidence it has the capacity to make the improvement required."

The report said that although pupils' personal development and well-being were good and the school cared for and supported those with difficulties, it did not do enough to ensure all pupils made adequate progress and reach standards in line with expectations.

Inspectors said there was now a better emphasis on the evaluation of pupils' performance and this was helping some lessons to become more challenging.

As a result, the quality of teaching showed some signs of improvement.

Where teaching was unsatisfactory, planning for lessons lacked detail and did not give sufficient information about what pupils were expected to learn, marking was inconsistent and practical equipment not always used effectively to help pupils solve problems.

There were now good systems to assess achievement in reading, writing and maths, but standards in these subjects, particularly maths, were low.

The school benefited from having a good team of staff and governors and very supportive parents, the majority of whom were very happy with the school.

The school will be re-inspected in six months. Mrs Offer said: "We are going to get out of this in record time."

Don't miss the Herald's special report on Hawthorns First School

Mrs Offer and her team show exactly why they are proud of their school in a two-page feature in the Herald on Thursday, February 7.