A SOUTHAMPTON school has been slammed in a damning report by an education watchdog.

A city primary school has been given the lowest possible rating.

St Monica Primary School has been deemed inadequate by the education watchdog, Ofsted.

Inspectors went to the site in Bay Road for a monitoring visit on June 15.

A report published this month said that school staff “have not ensured that the curriculum provides the breadth required by the national curriculum”.

It stated that “some pupils have not been taught some subjects, such as computing or a modern foreign language”.

Furthermore, “other subjects, including music, art and technology, have been taught at such irregular intervals that pupils have not remembered what they were taught previously”.

Staff had reportedly not ensured that planning and teaching are based on what pupils know and can do.

On its website, the school with 506 pupils, says it is a family working hard to achieve the very best for all its children in a warm and nurturing environment.

Principal Mrs Lisa Marshall has been in place since September 2020.

Due to covid restrictions, just under a third of pupils were being educated on-site between January and March 2021.

But since their return, the school has experienced some long-term staff absences.

According to the Ofsted report, the school needs to work more closely with Southampton City Council to ensure that the needs of all pupils are fully met.

For example, “leaders need to ensure that annual reviews for pupils with education, health and care plans take place on time”.

Furthermore, inspectors criticised Southampton City Council’s action plan deeming it not fit for purpose saying it did not set out clear timescales and dates.

Inspectors met with teaching staff, visited lessons, spoke to pupils and reviewed the school’s curriculum plans on June 15 and June 16 this year.

Although pupils and staff confirmed that behaviour had improved, it is still variable across year groups. The number of serious behaviour incidents has reduced and the consistency with which staff approach challenging behaviours has improved.

However, there are a small number of classes where pupils are not as attentive.

A spokesperson for the city council said: "Following the inspection in October 2019, the Headteacher left and the local authority arranged a Service Level Agreement with the Trust who would be taking over the school when it becomes an academy.

"The Trust has reported to us on a regular basis and meetings have taken place to ensure that sufficient and rapid improvement was occurring. This was confirmed in the recent Ofsted visit.

"We are investigating why the comment the local authority’s statement of action is not fit for purpose’ was included in the report, as this had not been mentioned in any of the previous monitoring visits.

"We will continue to monitor the implementation of the Service Level Agreement and ensure that the Trust continues to bring about sustained improvement until the school becomes an academy in January 2022."

The Daily Echo has contacted St Monica Primary for comment.

NOTE: This story has been updated to specify that the Ofsted visit was a monitoring visit, not a full inspection.