The latest Ofsted inspection of a primary school in Millom has found it requires improvement.

For the first time in five years, inspectors visited Black Combe Junior School on July 2, 2024.

The school on Moor Road had not had a visit from Ofsted since February 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Across the four main categories, personal development and behaviour and attitudes were both rated good, while the quality of education as well as leadership and management were labelled ‘requires improvement’.

Ofsted said pupils enjoyed going to school, showed respect to one another and tried their best during lessons.

The report said Black Combe had high expectations for pupils’ achievement which they strive to live up to.

Inspectors highlighted how the school has recently overhauled the curriculum, which they described as ‘ambitious’.

However, they found that some subjects have not identified what needs to be taught which has resulted in some pupils not progressing as well as they should.

The report said: “During lessons, teachers carefully check pupils’ understanding. They ensure that misconceptions are addressed quickly. The school has introduced a range of assessment strategies which are generally used appropriately to find out how well pupils are remembering the curriculum in the longer-term.

“However, teachers are at different stages of delivering the refreshed curriculums consistently well. This hinders’ pupils from learning all that they should.

“The school has not checked the delivery of the curriculum sufficiently well.”

The school is credited with understanding how important it is for pupils to read, and encouraging pupils to do so, however, inspectors found that not all pupils were receiving the help and support needed.

Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) were found to be receiving effective support and were able to be ‘fully involved’ in school life.

They said pupils behave well and benefit from working with others from different year groups.

Headteacher Catherine Dennison said: “As a school we are pleased the inspectors recognised the children enjoy coming to school, are well behaved and strive to achieve our high expectations of achievement. 

“We have worked hard to redesign our curriculum and acknowledge there is still work to do in some subjects.  We have already made good progress to improve further, reading skills and fluency throughout the school. 

“There are many positives in our reports. I am proud of all the hard work and commitment from all the children and staff.

"They will continue to ‘make every day count’, which is their school vision."