A primary school not inspected by Ofsted for 14 years has been stripped of its "outstanding" status.

Westmeads Community Infant School in Whitstable has been handed a "requires improvement" ranking, after inspectors found issues with its curriculum and a lack of subject knowledge among teachers.

But the school, which was taken over by a "dynamic" new head teacher in September, says it is making improvements and has received the backing of parents.

The Cromwell Road primary - which caters for 157 children aged five to seven - was given Ofsted's top rating when it was last assessed in October 2007, making it legally exempt from regular inspections.

But the law has now changed, meaning all schools must be regularly assessed, and Westmeads was visited this May as part of Ofsted's bid to inspect all formerly exempt schools.

Following the inspection, the education watchdog has dropped the school by two gradings to requires improvement.

Ofsted officers found "behaviour and attitudes", personal development, early years provision, and leadership and management at the school were all "good".

But Westmeads was let down by its "quality of education", which was rated requires improvement.

Inspectors said the curriculum is not "sequenced in a logical way in all subjects".

They said support for the weakest readers is "not always as precise as it could be" and that teachers had a lack of clarity about what pupils should be learning in each subject. Meanwhile, expectations in some subjects are "not high enough to challenge pupils".

Inspectors added: "Subject leaders do not always have secure subject knowledge in the subject that they lead.

"Senior leaders need to ensure that middle leaders receive high-quality training."

But they acknowledged pupils are "happy and carefree", and enjoy a wide range of activities such as swimming lessons, while understanding the school's core values of "love and kindness".

Inspectors added that leaders "have a clear understanding of what they need to do to improve the school" and are in the process of reviewing its curriculum, while there has been a recent drive to train staff in core subjects such as maths and reading.

Westmeads head Kirsty White says efforts to boost teachers' knowledge have been "hugely successful".

“We are delighted that all of the hard work in Early Years has been recognised with a solid good judgement for this area," she said. "We are proud to have had our improvements recognised so positively by the inspection team.

“We are also delighted to have been recognised for the very strong personal development and enrichment for our children.

“Our entire staff team are dedicated to making Westmeads the very best school it can be.”

School governors added: “We have absolute confidence in Ms White’s leadership of the school and are both grateful and impressed by the improvements already so very evident."

Meanwhile, pupils and parents say the school is a "safe place" where bullying is rare.

Mum Marie Forbes said: “I cannot praise Ms Kirsty White and her brilliant team of teachers highly enough.

“(They) went over and beyond to create an environment that my son felt safe in. The communication is brilliant, we know exactly what the children are learning each week and if we have had any concerns the teachers have taken time to listen.

"Her vision is clear and she is obviously passionate about making this school the very best it can be..."

“The teachers have high expectations of the children in terms of their learning but will always create the best learning environment for individual children to thrive. I am amazed by our son’s progress in just eight months.”

Mum Caroline Begg said her son is "thriving" in Westmeads' "warm and nurturing learning environment".

Meanwhile, Catalina Goodrum also praised Ms White, saying: "Her vision is clear and she is obviously passionate about making this school the very best it can be."

Kent County Council’s director of education, Christine McInnes, added: “The new head teacher only took up her post at the start of the present academic year.

"She quickly and accurately identified appropriate actions to make improvements at Westmeads and consequently nearly all areas of the school’s provision have been judged as good.

“The local authority has worked closely with Ms White and the school governors and we are confident of their capacity to respond quickly to the development points identified in the Ofsted report.

"Officers will continue to support and monitor the school to ensure that there is continued rapid improvement.”