MORE work is needed at an “inadequate” Eastwood school despite a series of improvements being made in “rollercoaster of a journey this year”.

Heycroft Primary School, in Benvenue Avenue, got the lowest rating by Ofsted in March 2023 after inspectors found pupils did not receive an “acceptable quality of education” and behaviour is not always good.

A monitoring inspection took place on October 3 and concentrated on these areas, as well as safeguarding processes and support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

A report published on Friday highlighted improvements in behaviour but also highlighted “too frequent” problems in break and lunchtimes.

The report said: “You worked on improving pupils’ behaviour first, recognising that pupils need to behave to be ready to learn. You introduced a clear policy, using assemblies for pupils and training for staff to quickly bed in the new changes to expectations and procedures.

“However, these improvements in behaviour are not reflected at break and lunchtimes. During these times, incidents of poor behaviour are too frequent.

“Your cross-school working has supported rapid improvements to the curriculum. However, the content in these newly introduced curriculums is not being realised well in lessons.”

The inspection concluded “leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is necessary for the school to be no longer judged as having serious weaknesses.”

A turbulent year for the school saw the board of governors quite en-masse in January days after Southend Council issued a formal warning notice demanding a rapid improvement plan.

In February, it was rated inadequate by Ofsted despite being rated as good for the ten years prior.

The school is now set to join the South East Essex Academy Trust and the plan has been agreed by the Department for Education.

Helen Boyd, Conservative councillor responsible for children’s services, education and learning, said: “I’m very pleased to see the improvement outlined in this report, as the school has been on a bit of a rollercoaster of a journey this year, but the recent stability in leadership has allowed for improvements to be made quickly. Credit must go to all those involved.”