TEACHING must improve at a school, say Ofsted inspectors.

The watchdog criticised standards at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, in Vaagen Road, Canvey, after a two-day inspection in June.

Officials say the school, rated good in 2010, now requires improvement.

However, inspectors praised the behaviour and safety of pupils finding they made “good progress” in reception and Key Stage 1, behaved well and benefited from a wide range of outside visits and activities. Stephen Walker, lead inspector, said in his report: “Teaching varies in quality and there is still too much that requires improvement.

“Although there are examples of good teaching, it is not yet consistently good enough across the school.

“School data, the work in pupils’ books and observations of pupils’ learning show teaching is not yet strong enough in Key Stage 2 to lead to sustained good achievement.” The school, which has 210 pupils, will be inspected again in the next two years.

Chair of governors David O’Halloran said they were striving to bring the school back up to the “good’’ standard by then.

He said: “The school was disappointed to receive the ‘requires improvement’ judgement.

“However, the governing body has every confidence the school will make the necessary improvements to ensure it is judged as ‘good’ at its next inspection.’’ Inspectors also found insufficient opportunities for teachers to share good practice and criticised leadership, saying “leaders have not yet done enough to speed up pupils’ progress and tackle teaching that requires improvement. “ But they said Key Stage Two pupils made good progress in English and Maths.

Ofsted said: “Pupils’ progress is not consistently good across the school.

“Although there are clear signs of better progress this year, they are not yet making sustained good progress.”