A primary school has pledged to continue to make changes after being told it “requires improvement” for a third inspection in a row.

Ofsted inspectors visited Gusford Community Primary School, in Ipswich, in November 2018 and have now published their latest report on the school.

While some parts of the school’s performance were considered “good”, such as the school’s management and the personal development of students, other areas were considered to require improvement.

In comparison to its last inspection in 2017, the school’s leadership has improved but early years provision appears to have slipped.

Headteacher Claire Claydon said: “We feel the latest inspection report is a fair reflection of where we are as a school, the improvements we have made since the last inspection and the areas we need to continue to focus on.

“Ofsted now recognises the school has ‘good’ leadership and management and is ‘good’ for the personal development and welfare of its students.

“We are particularly pleased that inspectors noted that ‘leaders, governors and the trust demonstrate a steadfast determination to improve the school’ and that school attainment is rising.

“While we recognise improvements need to take place in other areas of the school, we believe these comments highlight that we are on a clear path to become a ‘good’ school overall.”

The three areas for the school to improve upon, according to Ofsted, were the quality of teaching, the outcomes for pupils and the early years provisions.

Some students are still achieving below national average scores in core subjects and the standards and the rate of improvement across the school is inconsistent.

However the inspectors reported that students’ marks overall are rising and that new teaching approaches are having a positive impact.

A large proportion of the teaching staff have joined the school in the last 18 months and although the quality of the teaching and learning is “variable”, Ofsted acknowledges that the teaching of the curriculum subjects is improving.

The behaviour of the students and the calm environment of the school was also commended in the report, with an inspector noting that “pupils are developing a love of learning”.