Leadership and the quality of education at an Essex primary school must improve, an education watchdog has said.

According to an Ofsted report, there has been “considerable turbulence” in leadership and staff at Mistley Norman Church of England Primary School, near Manningtree, Tendring, since its last inspection.

The school’s head teacher said staff changes were planned in order to secure permanent leadership and teaching teams.

The report said a new senior leadership team is now in place and has made a good start improving the school’s effectiveness.

The school was given an overall rating of “requires improvement” by Ofsted after an inspection in November last year, the same rating it received in 2018.

A section of the report reads: “Leaders have focused on improving the reading and mathematics curriculums. This has borne fruit. Pupils’ learning in these subjects is improving.

“There are weaknesses in the curriculum plans for some other subjects. Leaders have not ensured that these subjects are sufficiently well planned and sequenced.

“Teaching in these subjects does not build on pupils’ learning well enough as they move up the school.

“Some subject leaders are new to their roles. They do not yet have the knowledge and expertise needed to effectively design and implement curriculum plans in their subjects.”

The report continued to say staff had high expectations for pupils, which was an improvement from the last inspection, but that pupils were still not achieving as well as they should.

It was recognised that this was due to the changes in leadership and staff, the report continued.

The school received a rating of requires improvement for the categories of “quality of education” and “leadership and management” in addition to its overall score.

But it was given a “good” rating for “behaviour and attitudes”, “personal development”, and “early years provision”.

Headteacher Mr Carter-Tuffnell said in a statement: “We have been encouraged by the feedback within our latest Ofsted inspection and we feel that the evaluation is an accurate reflection of the school’s progress over the last year or so and its current strengths.

“The school has come a long way in a short space of time, and we are very proud of the huge improvements acknowledged in the latest report. We have now achieved ‘Good’ for our early years provision, personal development and behaviour and attitudes.

“There is still work to do and we will continue to make improvements in the areas recommended by Ofsted.

“The report rightly mentions ‘turbulence’ within leadership and staff since the previous inspection.

"However, these changes have been a part of planned and phased process towards the school securing a strong, permanent leadership and teaching team.

“As headteacher, I am confident that the school is moving in the right direction. This view is also supported by our parents and carers. When asked by Ofsted Parent View if they would recommend the school to another parent, 100% of the families answered ‘Yes’.”

Emma Wigmore, chief executive of Vine Schools Trust, the organisation that runs the school, said in a statement: “I would like to congratulate the team at Mistley Norman C of E Primary School on such a successful Ofsted outcome, despite the challenges of the pandemic.

“The school has received ‘Good’ evaluations in a number of key areas, which is a real achievement.

“Mistley has gone from strength to strength under the new leadership arrangement and I am delighted to see that this has been recognised by Ofsted.

“As a trust, we are impressed with the rapid improvements achieved within the school so far and we feel confident that these improvements will continue.”