AN OFSTED insepctor has slammed the teaching at one of Thurrock’s worst performing primary schools as it struggles to get out of special measures.

Manor Primary, in Tilbury, was visited by the government watchdog’s inspectors for the third time in seven months, after being found to be inadequate last July.

Inspector Christopher Moodie visited the school on January 22.

He found that pupils’ achievement is still low and that teaching has not improved since the inspection in July 2013. In one lesson he observed, a teacher was EIGHT minutes late.

In his report, he said “the school is not making enough progress towards the removal of special measures”.

He added: “A large proportion of teaching remains inadequate across almost all year groups.”

The school has endured a torrid last 12 months. In January 2013, the school’s governing board walked out ahead of an audit report - eventually published in March - which laid into the financial controls at the school.

In July, the school was placed in special measures by Ofsted and just days before the summer break, head teacher Alex Seaford resigned.

Adrian McNeillis, an education consultant, was drafted in as interim headteacher, but now the school is set to become an academy in March, sponsored by the Gateway Learning Community who run the Gateway Academy secondary school and Tilbury’s three other primary schools: Herringham, Landsowne and the Gateway Free School.

Herringham headteacher Viki Read took over as executive head at Manor in January.

John Kent, the leader of the council and man in charge of education in Thurrock said: “We knew turning Manor Primary around would be a lengthy task – and so it’s proving.

“I think the inspectors’ comments are more than fair. There are problems, they’ve been recognised and are being tackled, so I’m sure the next monitoring report will have a far more positive outlook.”