A WESTBURY primary school has made rapid progress in the last year, an Ofsted report published this week reveals.

The inspectors, who visited Bitham Brook Primary School in February, attribute much of the improvement to headteacher John Kimberley who started in January 2003.

While the report notes that since the last inspection in 1998 the school has experienced a number of problems, inspectors stressed it is well on its way to recovery.

The report states: "This school went through a difficult, unsettled period of high staff turnover two years ago, during which standards fell and pupils underachieved. Since the appointment of the present head substantial improvements, most notably to planning, teaching and pupils' behaviour, have put the school back on track."

The report reveals that standards are still likely to be below average in English, maths and science at age 11 due to earlier underachievement.

But it notes: "This trend is being reversed and pupils now in Year 6 show signs of fulfilling their potential. Work observed in most lessons was at least satisfactory and in literacy and numeracy sometimes good."

In its summary, the school's overall effectiveness and quality of education is rated as 'satisfactory' while its leadership and pupils' attitudes were marked as 'good'.

The school's chairman of governors, Tony Holton, said: "We are ecstatic about it really. Those teachers have worked hard so they deserve everything they get.

"We are trying to raise the school's profile at the moment. We are not where we want to be yet, but Rome wasn't built in a day."