A struggling primary school in Ipswich has been taken over by a new sponsor in a bid to continue its improvement.

Ipswich Star: Amanda Phillips will take over as headteacher after her role as principal at Ipswich AcademyAmanda Phillips will take over as headteacher after her role as principal at Ipswich Academy

Murrayfield Community Primary School in Nacton Road has been in special measures since September 2015 after Ofsted inspectors deemed the school to be inadequate.

But after an order from the Department for Education to convert into an academy, the renamed Murrayfield Primary Academy is now being run by the Paradigm Trust, which also operates Ipswich Academy.

Amanda Phillips, chief executive of Paradigm Trust and Murrayfield’s new headteacher, said: “Paradigm Trust’s aim is to give children the educational opportunities they deserve. We are working hard to do that with our existing schools and I am confident we shall be able to do the same for the children at Murrayfield.”

In November, parents expressed their concerns that the change of hands would mean improvement work carried out by interim headteacher Andrew Livingstone would be put at risk, after an interim Ofsted visit considered the school to be making progress in May last year.

But Ms Phillips moved to ease parent fears and outlined Paradigm’s plans.

“I have met many Murrayfield parents and we understand that change is unsettling,” she said.

“We are keen that they know that we are not interested in change for change’s sake. Everything that is good for the children will continue, but we will take immediate steps to raise the quality of teaching and educational standards.

“The key to improving standards is great teaching. There will be changes as we improve the teaching in the school but we will keep them informed about those. One of our main objectives is that the school is staffed in a way that allows us to deliver the outstanding education that we believe every child deserves.”

Ms Phillips will be replaced at Ipswich Academy by Helen Winn as interim principal, after the school was removed from special measures in November.