A primary school has been rated ‘requires improvement’ after inspectors said “not all pupils achieve well enough” in a critical report.

Chenies School in Chenies Village, near Rickmansworth, was found to require improvement in two categories, ‘good’ in four others, and was criticised for “inconsistencies in teaching”.

Ofsted visited the school, which has 98 pupils aged four to 11 on its roll, over two days in December and published its report on February 8.

Inspectors said: “In most foundation subjects, leaders have not identified clearly enough the most important knowledge they want pupils to learn.”

At key stage two, subjects other than English and maths aren’t covered in enough depth and teachers don’t give enough attention to pupils’ writing.

Recommendations included providing a more refined curriculum and delivering better guidance and training for staff.

Staff were also told to focus on addressing weaknesses in grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting.

Governors’ strategic oversight was also found to “not be robust enough” and they were told to put stronger systems in place.

Head teacher Suzanne Powell said: “As a school we are always looking at ways we can improve further and the areas that were identified by the inspection as requiring improvement had already been identified as priorities in our school development plan.

“At the time of the inspection we had already begun working on refining the foundation subject curriculum to ensure it met the requirements outlined in the education inspection framework and had recently appointed new volunteers to join our governing body.”

Get more stories like this delivered to your inbox every day by signing up to our Morning Briefing Newsletter.

It was apparent to Ofsted that “leaders want the best for everyone” and “pupils enjoy school and like their teachers”.

Kids’ good behaviour was praised while inspectors found they feel safe and safeguarding measures are effective.

The head teacher described the school as a “happy and nurturing community” and added that she was glad to see that inspectors praised the school in many areas.

She added: “We are pleased that the inspection report recognises the many strengths of our school; including our teaching of reading and mathematics, the provision of enrichment opportunities and our strong pastoral care.”