A high achieving school in Bushey has been told it requires improvement by Ofsted after a recent inspection.

Ofsted reported that Hartsbourne Primary School in Hartsbourne Road, needs to improve its leadership and management and the behaviour and safety of pupils.

The report stated that despite robust action being taken by school leaders to improve student behaviour, pupils told inspectors that bullying still occurs. It also noted that the system in place for leaders to check the effectiveness of their actions to improve pupils' behaviour and safety, "are not always rigorous enough."

In an online questionnaire parents raised concerns on how bullying is handled. The report said that the communication between parents and the school is poor.

It states: "Some parents said it is difficult to get to see the headteacher. A  few have expressed concerns that leaders do not deal effectively with bullying or respond quickly to parental concerns."

The report suggested that the school should routinely share information with parents and improve the information available to parents about the subjects being taught, on the school website.

Although regular checks on the quality of teaching made were rated as good, the inspectors reported that teachers in charge of subjects other than English and Maths were not always checking the quality of teaching and this needs to improve.

It was also reported that the school's improvement plans are not clear, particularly on what has been done to successfully raise their standards.

Headteacher of Hartsbourne Primary School, Valerie Hudson, said: "We are disappointed with the recent Ofsted report as we don’t feel it is a fair reflection of day-to-day life at Hartsbourne Primary School.

"This month, the Sunday Times named the school among the top 200 state primary schools in the country for our 2014 results and at our previous Ofsted inspection the school was rated ‘good’ overall and behaviour was ‘outstanding’.

"In partnership with our parents, we want to move forward as quickly as possible and we have already made a number of changes to systems and record keeping ensuring that we address Ofsted’s concerns and return to our previous high standards as quickly as possible.  

"Naturally, we were pleased Ofsted evaluated our early years’ provision, academic achievement and quality of teaching as ‘good’ and recognised the high academic standards and good learning behaviour in the classroom."