The headteacher of a primary school labelled “inadequate” overall by Ofsted has said she is “absolutely committed” to moving the school forward.

Ixworth CEVC Primary School was inspected earlier this year and received the lowest rating in every category, except its early years provision, which was rated “requires improvement”.

Headteacher Pip Whiteside said: “Whilst we acknowledge we have lots to improve, we were very disappointed with the grading.

“We are absolutely committed to keeping children safe in school and have already made the required changes to the administration to ensure all the systems we use are rigorous and secure.”

The school has around 210 pupils, aged between three and 11.

The inspectors’ report said: “This is an inadequate school. Safeguarding is ineffective. Systems for keeping pupils safe are not robust. Leaders have not established rigorous procedures for recording concerns and ensuring follow-up action is taken and recorded.

“Leaders have not ensured that all staff understand school procedures for keeping pupils safe.”

The school’s teaching was also criticised, with the report saying school leaders had not acted “swiftly” enough to tackle weaknesses in learning.

“Teaching is inadequate because in a number of classes and subjects learning activities do not meet the needs of pupils, including those of the most-able pupils. Some teachers do not manage behaviour in lessons effectively.

“Governors have not challenged leaders sufficiently or held them to account for the low standards of pupils’ achievement.”

Mrs Whiteside said she has already received lots of positive emails from parents saying they did not recognise their school from this report.

She added the school was pleased Ofsted recognised “spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our pupils is promoted well”.

“We are absolutely committed to moving the school forward,” she said. “We have already taken several steps to ensure that we are implementing rapid improvements that Ofsted identified. Our staff are passionate and understand the ethos and vision we are working towards to secure immediate positive change.”