A SCHOOL which fought against forced academy status after a damning Ofsted report four years ago has again found itself facing criticism from inspectors.

St Christopher’s Primary School, Cowley, went into special measures in 2009, coming out as a “satisfactory” school in 2011.

But when Ofsted inspectors revisited last month under the new framework – within which “satisfactory” no longer exists – the school was given a “requires improvement” rating.

Last night headteacher Alison Holden said she believed the judgment was fair and vowed to bring the school up to a “good” rating within a year.

Mrs Holden said: “We have done so much in the past three to four years to narrow the gap but there are patches across the school of groups of children that are not making enough progress.”

The school was told pupils’ progress was inconsistent, and teaching required improvement in some lessons.

While children started at levels below those expected for their age, they only made average progress across the first few school years.

Inspector John Taylor said: “School leaders set challenging targets for pupils and regularly discuss pupils’ standards with teachers. What they do not do enough is focus on pupils’ progress rather than standards, so targeted support is not always effective at raising standards for the pupils who need it most.”

Mrs Holden said the school would now be checking the percentage of pupils making expected progress six or seven times a year.

She said: “I accept we still need to do more but we are not the school that came out of special measures.

“I was disappointed because I know we are so nearly there, but we are determined to do it and next year I know we will have vastly improved.”

She pointed out that inspectors saw no inadequate teaching, adding that there had been staffing issues, with six new teachers starting in September.

She said: “In the past four years our staff turnover has been such that you could have put a revolving door at the front of the school and that does concern me.

“We have managed to get good teachers who are relocating to the area and were really sold on where the school has been, the improvements and where we are going next.”

About 70 per cent of pupils at the school come from ethnic minority backgrounds, while between 35 and 40 per cent speak English as an additional language.

The school is considering converting to academy status as a Diocese of Oxford academy.

Fiona Craig, deputy education director for the Diocese of Oxford, said: “We are committed to seeing further improvements for the pupils at St Christopher’s and are working in partnership with the Department for Education to support the school on its onward journey.

“This journey includes establishing the right academy solution for the school.“ Melinda Tilley, children, education and families cabinet member for Oxfordshire County Council, said she believed the school was on the right track but added: “I would like to see them come out and be good as soon as possible. I am confident they can turn this one around.”