by Rachel Hovenden

rhovenden@thekmgroup.co.uk

A primary school has been told that the quality of its teaching is inadequate and that when pupils leave they aren't "adequately prepared" for secondary school.

Dover Road Community Primary School has been judged bottom of the class by Ofsted as it is set to go into special measures - the worst possible outcome for a school apart from closure.

The assessment, carried out by five government inspectors, judged the school in Dover Road East, Northfleet, as inadequate in both its "overall effectiveness" and "the school’s capacity for sustained improvement."

They found that pupils left the school with low grades in English and maths and that pupils don't achieve as well as they could.

It also stated that classrooms don’t have well thought out displays to support the youngsters’ learning and that marking of pupils' work was not consistent across the school.

It also criticised school leaders and managers for not embedding ambition and driving improvement effectively.

Girls were found to make significantly less progress than boys in English.

Ofsted also found that those in years one and two, those eligible for free school meals, with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who don’t speak English as a first language made "inadequate progress."

The report, written by Joanna Toulson, said: "The governing body lacks a firm understanding about the school’s weaknesses and does not hold school leaders sufficiently to account for the low attainment of pupils....

"The school offers inadequate value for money, as resources are not resulting in at least satisfactory outcomes for pupils."

Inspectors also found that work is either too hard or easy for the children, hindering their progress.

However, it did find that pupils were polite and behaviour was generally well-managed.

It also found that care given to vulnerable pupils was an established part of school life.

In a letter to parents, head teacher Rebecca Smith, blamed the poor Ofsted on the results of year six.

She said: "The inspection focused on results in Y6. Although this group of children made satisfactory progress, their overall results were poor and as a single year group did not reflect the upward school trend in results of previous years."