After a two-day visit by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), the High Leys Road school was labelled only 'satisfactory' – the third-best of four grading categories.

And the inspectors reckoned the school's own opinion of itself was "over-generous".

The report is the last to be published under the school's headship of Clive Bumstead, who is set to retire this summer.

At its previous inspection in 2003, the school was classed as 'good'. But this time round, the report highlighted several areas where improvements need to be made.

These included ensuring the safety of pupils with action to "tackle this administrative weakness as an urgent priority".

The consistency of teaching must also be improved so pupils can achieve higher standards in writing and science.

Now an interim visit will be made by an inspector to check on progress before the next full inspection.

Annie Holgate has 257 pupils and a higher-than-average number of youngsters with learning difficulties and disabilities – thanks to its successful individual needs centre for deaf children.

The Inspectors found teaching to be satisfactory overall, although some work set for higher attainers was said to be too easy.

They pinpointed good relationships between teachers and pupils and good behaviour in an "orderly school community".

Pupils enjoyed school, gained confidence, worked hard and felt safe.

Inspectors noted there were plenty of interesting activities outside of lessons, particularly in sport where Annie Holgate had achieved national recognition through the Active Schools Mark and the Football Association's Charter School standard.

But inspectors suggested that progress in writing was inconsistent, which reflected inconsistencies in teaching quality.

They also said attendance could be improved, although leaders worked hard to tackle this and the school ran smoothly.

The inspectors also said there were problems with staff setting targets for children and monitoring progress.

Despite the report, Mr Bumstead insisted this week that the future is bright for the High Leys Road school.

"All the areas mentioned in the report have been addressed and, hopefully, this year's Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) will prove that we are much more than a satisfactory school," he said.

Mr Bumstead also questioned the timing of the inspection because it came during a week when teaching staff were invigilating SAT tests and the whole of year-three was out of school on visits to local churches.

And he pointed out that a new teaching method had been introduced,
resulting in outstanding results and huge improvements in reading and writing.

Mr Bumstead also revealed that the school had adopted a new IT system on to which every child's assessment documents had been uploaded.

This gave staff instant access to pupils' progress in order to check whether youngsters were reaching national standards.

A disappointed Mr Bumstead said the inspection team didn't have time to see this system in operation.

CLEARLY ON RIGHT ROAD

BETTER news for Annie Holgate Junior School saw victory in a prestigious road-safety quiz for the third year on the spin.

A team of 12 youngsters from the High Leys Road school retained the trophy in the Ashfield finale of this year's competition, in which six teams took part.

They got through to the final after a first round that saw 5,000 schoolchildren across the district quizzed.

Back in 2006, Annie Holgate also became the last-ever winners of the county final, which has now been scrapped in favour of district competitions.

The latest success was secured by 17 points with the Hucknall youngsters scoring 205 from a possible 240.

They came home ahead of the other five finalists, who included Hucknall's Edgewood Primary School and Annesley Primary and Nursery School.

The final was held at the Festival Hall at Kirkby, where high-tech, hand-held controls were used to register answers to a series of multiple-choice questions.

The school's efforts in road-safety quiz finals are inspired by the death of a pupil in a road accident 19 years ago.

Ten-year-old Sabrina Cotterill, of Hucknall, had been out collecting 'pennies for the Guy' in preparation for Bonfire Night when she was in collision with a Vauxhall Astra car.

The tragic accident happened only yards from the home of Annie Holgate's head teacher, Clive Bumstead.

Since then, he has pushed road safety up the agenda and youngsters take part in regular quizzes based on the 'Green Cross Code' and the meaning of signs.

This year's winning team comprised: Jack Smith, Harriet Bird, Joanna Morley, Jessie Ashurst, Meagan Wallis, PJ Wallis, James Pike, Claire Newton, Carter Newbury, Corey Scothern, McKenzie Lynk and India Newbury, plus reserves Sophie Boden and Ben Allsopp.

Annie Holgate won a prize of £50 and each team member a £5 gift token each.

To mark the imminent retirement of Mr Bumstead, he was presented with a certificate to recognise his work to improve road safety.