THE headteacher and governors of a village primary school near Devizes which has been put into special measures by OFSTED are determined it will make to rapid change and improvement.

Rowde Academy has gone from being rated as good at its last inspection in 2015 to being branded inadequate.

But headteacher Sue Hulford, who only took up her role in January, and chairman of the governors Jackie Bawden say they are using the report as a spur to make big changes and were excited by the challenge.

Mrs Hulford, 46, has been at Rowde for three years and was acting head for several months after former head Lorraine Colquhoun decided to step down following a breast cancer relapse.

The Ofsted report highlighted the fact that since the previous inspection the school had suffered considerable turbulence in leadership and staffing.

It said: "This has severely hampered the school's capacity to improve. The quality of education has declined and leaders have made insufficient progress in addressing areas identified for improvement.

"This has had a detrimental effect on pupils' achievements and too many leave the school poorly prepared for their next step."

But both Mrs Hulford and Mrs Bawden said changes had already started to be implemented before the inspectors arrived in March and this was acknowledged by the inspectors who said: "Leaders have an accurate view of pupils' achievements and are starting to implement improvements."

Mrs Bawden said: "The school's governing body fully accepts the findings of this challenging OFSTED. We are now worksing to ensure Rowde Academy once again becomes an outstanding school."

Mrs Hulford said: "The report identifies three main areas for improvement. These relate to the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, especially in mathematics and reading at key stage two, the effectiveness of leadership and management and the procedures in place for managing some behaviour.

"The action plan will address all these issues in detail and ensure that rapid change and sustained impact is secured.!

She said she had faith in her staff and their ability to make the improvements necessary. Hannah Elson has been appointed as a new deputy head and will take up her position in September.