'Special measures' for Eveline Lowe Primary School

A report of an inspection of the Marlborough Grove school carried out in February was published last week.

The inspectors gave the 373-pupil primary school a grade 4 ranking for overall effectiveness on a scale of 1 to 4.

The inspection report notes that: "Eveline Lowe is a school which, while having a number of strong features, has significant weaknesses. This is because the leadership and management have not taken effective action to secure improvement and pupils do not achieve as well as they should. This means that the school's overall effectiveness is inadequate."

The school also received grade 4 for standards and leadership and management, though inspectors praised the "good" curriculum which received grade 2.

"I am of course very disappointed with the outcome of the recent HMI visit to Eveline Lowe Primary School," says Cllr Caroline Pidgeon, Southwark's executive member for children's services and education.

"It is clear that there now needs to be a committed and concerted effort to turn the situation around as soon as possible and to address the issues highlighted by the report. The local authority will be working closely with the governors at the school to provide additional support and to work through an agreed action plan.

"Every young person in Southwark deserves the best education possible and if a school is not providing an acceptable level of education for its pupils then the quality of teaching and learning facilities needs to be addressed immediately."

The latest Ofsted report is in sharp contrast to the last full inspection five years ago which judged the school to be "highly effective".

Eveline Lowe's buildings are due to be redeveloped as part of the Southwark Schools for the Future programme. Last month four architectural practices were shortlisted to develop proposals for the school.

The full inspection report is available on the Oftsted website.