A PRIMARY school in north Durham has been placed in special measures after a visit from Government inspectors.

Shield Row Primary School, near Stanley, has fallen from the second highest Ofsted rating to the lowest in three years.

The school, which has 214 pupils, was judged as ‘good’ by the schools’ watchdog when it was last visited in March 2011.

But last week a report showed it had dropped to the lowest rating of ‘inadequate’ with none of the five inspection criteria awarded a rating above ‘requires improvement’.

Lead inspector Lee Owsten said: “Leaders do not provide the direction or ambition needed to improve the quality of teaching and raise pupils’ achievement across the school.”

The visit found the school’s strengths were that year six teaching has been strong over time and most pupils catch-up quickly.

Pupils are said to give of their best when teaching is pitched at the correct level for their abilities and the nurture group is effective at developing the personal, social and emotional skills of vulnerable pupils so that they can learn more easily in class.

But inspectors have told the school it must tackle inadequate teaching methods, raise teachers’ expectations, address poor progress in reading and writing in years one to four and improve leadership which was branded ‘lax’.

School leaders were accused of being ‘complacent’ about school performance with weaknesses in checking pupil progress identified as a major concern.

Headteacher Andrew Knighton said: “Everyone connected with the school is extremely disappointed with the outcome of the inspection.”