A VILLAGE school has been told it needs to improve after its Ofsted rating slipped to a 'satisfactory' rating.

A VILLAGE school has been told it needs to improve after its Ofsted rating slipped to a 'satisfactory' rating.

Thompson Primary School, in Thompson, near Watton, was given the top 'outstanding' grade by inspectors on their last report in 2007.

But following an inspection earlier this month the school has been given the satisfactory rating for both its overall effectiveness and its capacity for sustained improvement.

A report by inspector Heather Weston says pupils make good progress in the reception year and key stage one, but progress slows in key stage two.

'Children thoroughly enjoy coming to school,' says the report. 'They think that their learning is fun, particularly the wide range of inspiring enrichment activities, which bring the curriculum to life. Relationships between everyone, staff and pupils alike are very positive and the school has a very purposeful atmosphere.

'However, despite this, the school's overall effectiveness is satisfactory because both pupils' attainment and their rate of progress from entering to leaving the school are satisfactory.

'The headteacher and governors have appropriate expectations regarding standards and have paid great attention to developing the enriching and exciting curriculum. They have not recognised that more needs to be done to improve the quality of teaching and the use of day-to-day assessment in order to accelerate progress in key stage two.'

The report says aspects such as the pupils' behaviour, the extent to which they adopt healthy lifestyles, and their contribution to the community are still considered outstanding.

But it also says, while some positive action has been taken to improve assessment procedures, the 'monitoring of provision has not been sufficiently frequent or rigorous to identify inconsistencies and key aspects for improvement in teaching.'