The head of a village primary school today appealed for community support after it was heavily criticised by Government inspectors.

Yvonne Potter, head at Great Bentley Primary School, sent out the rallying call following an Ofsted inspection which confirmed special measures were needed to provide an acceptable standard of education for all pupils.

Mrs Potter said: "The inspectors have set a clear agenda for change for the better, and it is essential that everyone is committed to playing their part in raising standards generally throughout the school."

Great Bentley Primary has 230 pupils with an average class size of 27.

It has 17.4 per cent of children on the special educational needs register, the national average.

The inspectors demanded standards improve in English, maths, science and information technology.

Some of the teaching was described as unsatisfactory and the school has been told to provide more support for children with special needs.

Leadership and management must also be improved and the behaviour of some children is not well handled by some teachers.

Inspectors said the school had not made sufficient progress since its last inspection and it provided unsatisfactory value for money.

However, they did praise the school for promoting social development among pupils and said quality of teaching was good in one quarter of lessons.

Parents also make a valuable contribution to the work of the school, have good opportunities to discuss their children's work with teachers and receive good quality information in the school's annual report.

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