BEHAVIOUR and spelling are some of the problems a Kidlington headteacher has vowed to tackle after a primary school lost its “outstanding” Ofsted rating.

More than six years after inspectors declared Edward Feild Primary School “outstanding,” Ofsted have decided the 308-pupil establishment “requires improvement.”

Headteacher Simon Jackson, who took on the role in September last year, has now pledged to get the school on track to improvement following advice from Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI).

Mr Jackson, of Witney, said: “It had not been inspected for a long time. I started at the beginning of the school year in 2014 and we knew the school was no longer outstanding.

“I have had HMI visitors so we need to get back to them first and then go from there and HMI say we are doing the right things.”

Mr Jackson added that inspectors had already reported back to the school with positive feedback, which is due to be published by the end of this month.

A glowing report in December 2008 had lauded the Bicester Road school for pupils making outstanding progress but inspectors did not visit again until March this year.

The latest rating, published in a report following the inspection, highlighted behaviour, and the writing skills of disadvantaged pupils, as key areas for improvement.

The school has also been asked to improve the consistency of teaching quality across all classes and said pupils were not always given support on extra challenges.

But Mr Jackson said the school had already taken leaps forward in addressing the problems by making pupils aware of behaviour expectations.

He added: “We have a lot to address but there is some good quality writing coming out of the school.

“We are making lessons more fun and working on behaviour policy by being very clear on expectations.

“We do assemblies setting out the expected behaviour and we talk about the rules.

“I think the children deserve the best and we have worked very closely as a team and teachers here have held together as a really strong team.”

Heather Nicholl’s 10-year-old son Charlie has been attending the school since 2008 and she said she has noticed marked improvements since enrolment.

The 43-year-old added: “I think the standard of the school is rising and I think it is better than it was last year.

“I have seen a lot of changes since Charlie started and they are clamping down on behaviour whereas before I did not think the behaviour was as good.

“Now if they misbehave they are kept in at lunch time.

“We have had a new head who is lovely and he is trying to get it back up and running.”