OLD Cleeve First School, in Washford, is "failing to give its pupils an acceptable quality of education" according to Government inspectors who have been forced to intervene to ensure standards are raised.

Inspectors from Ofsted only implement their 'special measures' in exceptional circumstances, but have decided to use those powers to keep a close eye on the school to ensure progress is made in the months and years to come.

Once a school has been put on special measures, it is kept under close watch by inspectors, who make frequent visits to ensure key goals and aims are being met.

The move comes after Ofsted inspector Mrs Jones made an additional inspection to the school in November last year after a previous report in 1999 found serious weaknesses.

According to the latest report, released this week, the school has failed to address the original problems, with poor teaching singled out as a major cause.

Mrs Jones states: "Since the last inspection, the school has not made enough improvement and many of the weaknesses identified in the last report remain.

"The quality of teaching has worsened and the school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable quality of education.

"The school's capacity to improve cannot be assured."

At the time of the inspection, the headteacher was Bob Saunders, but he retired at the end of last term after 24 years.

He has been criticised in the report for failing to provide positive leadership and for failing to liaise with a fellow teacher with whom he shared responsibility for teaching pupils in year four.

As a result, the inspector found that the year four children were below national standards in English, mathematics and science, with standards "unacceptably low for too many pupils".

The report states: "The quality of teaching is poor overall. Teaching was satisfactory or better in only half the lessons seen.

"There was unsatisfactory teaching in every class except the nursery, where it was good. Every lesson seen in year four was unsatisfactory."

But there was also praise for Mr Saunders, who the inspector felt had created "a caring and welcoming school ethos".

He also received glowing praise from his former bosses in the education department at Somerset County Council.

In a statement made before the Ofsted report was released publicly, the local education authority said: "Mr Saunders was a very popular headteacher who has worked hard for the school's community and seen it through the many changes brought about by national developments.

"He led a dedicated and hardworking staff to develop a well loved school. The local community and the LEA are grateful to Mr Saunders for all that he has done for the school.

"Nationally, we owe a great deal to people like Bob Saunders who have given so much to education over the years."

The school governors are currently trying to find a new headteacher for the school, but in the meantime Christine Stamp has been seconded from a school in Cossington, near Bridgwater, to provide cover for two terms.

Unlike Mr Saunders, she will not be teaching at Old Cleeve, but is instead concentrating on implementing a range of initiatives designed to meet the inspector's recommendations.

A statement from the school said Mrs Stamp was confident that, with the support of "the governing body, the dedicated, hardworking staff, and parents" all the recommendations could be addressed quickly.

Those recommendations include raising standards across the board in maths, English, science and information and communication technology, "eradicating" unsatisfactory teaching and improving pupils' attitudes to learning and their behaviour at the school.

The quality of leadership and management must also be improved, as must the levels of attendance.

Since the last inspection in 1999 when 110 pupils were on the school roll, the number has since fallen to just 83 between the ages of four and nine - well below the national figure, while the rate of 'unauthorised absence' is well above the national average.

The inspector wants to see more training for teachers, a computerised system to keep track on pupils' progress and more monitoring of both the quality and methods of teaching.

In particular, Mrs Jones wants teachers to be taught how to control unruly children and maintain discipline in classes after seeing teachers simply raising their voices in order to shout above noisy children in class, rather than telling the children to be quiet.

The report states: "In a number of lessons, teachers struggle to maintain control and have an inconsistent approach to the management of pupils' behaviour.

"Teachers do not insist that pupils listen when they are talking. They raise their voices to talk over those of the pupils and allow noise levels to become too high.

"The two teachers in year four do not work together to ensure a common approach in the use of strategies for behaviour management and in the expectations of the standard of work and the quality of presentation. This has an adverse effect on the pupils' progress."

It continues: "Too many lessons are conducted at a slow pace; there is a lack of challenge and sense of urgency. The quality of marking differs from class to class and in some classes is unsatisfactory.

"In two classes, work is often left unfinished and unmarked. Even when marking is satisfactory, it is usually just corrective and pupils are not told what they need to do to improve."

The inspector also found that in key stage one national curriculum tests last year standards were below average in reading, broadly average in writing and well below average in maths.

However, the school's performance in key stage one national tests last year showed a "significant overall improvement on that for 1999 in terms of the proportion of pupils attaining the expected levels".

This was especially true in maths, where every pupil attained the expected level, an increase of some 40 per cent on the previous year.

There was good news too for the nursery class where Mrs Jones found the teaching "effective" and the environment itself "bright, attractive and well-organised".

Her report adds: "The teacher uses her good knowledge and understanding of child development and the way in which young children learn through play to support the pupils' learning,

"The teacher and nursery nurse work very well together and their very good relationship contributes to the purposeful atmosphere in the nursery."