A primary school that was deemed ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, is now out of special measures.

The recent inspection report gave Bisham C of E School on Church Lane, Bisham, an overall rating of ‘required improvement’ – a step up from the previous result.

The “clear vision and experience” of new executive head, Helen Daniels, was praised in the report, saying it inspired “fresh confidence” in pupils, parents and staff members.

Other strengths listed included a “good start” for children in Reception year and meeting the “individual needs” of disadvantaged pupils and students who have special educational needs or disabilities.

The report also mentioned improvement in teaching, saying: “No inadequate teaching remains. Evidence of good teaching is emerging.”

However, teachers were criticised for not establishing “systematic teaching” of core subjects such as writing, phonics (letters and the sounds they make) and maths resulting in “inconsistent progress” of pupils, and not using assessment information well to plan pupils’ learning.

Teaching assistants’ “support on pupils’ learning” was also criticised. The school was asked to improve leadership and management, and create more “reliable” and “consistent” teaching methods.

The school’s early years provision received a ‘good’ rating with the report saying the proportion of children in Reception year who attained a good level of development, was above the national average.

It also said parents the inspector spoke with were “delighted” with their children’s progress and the “care and attention” provided by staff, adding: “Parents are rightly confident that their children are safe and well cared for and appreciate the wealth of information they receive about the children’s activities and progress.”

Ms Daniels said: "We are absolutely delighted to have moved out of Special Measures and that our Early Years provision has been graded as 'Good'.

"The improvements at the school are the result of the hard work of a great team of people, including staff, members of the Interim Executive Board, and parents and children, and we all look forward to a bright future for the school."

The 48-pupil school came under fire two years ago after a controversial inspection returned a conclusion of ‘inadequate’ only six months after another inspection found the school to be ‘good’.

Then head, Jim Cooke, was forced to step down after the inspection found a number of issues with the school to do with teaching, leadership and behaviour.

A number of parents also pulled their children out of the then 115-pupil school.