IMPROVEMENTS are being made at a primary school labelled the 167th worst in the country, its deputy headteacher insisted.

St Clare’s School, in Cloes Lane, scored particularly poorly on the ability of teachers to raise the reading standards of pupils.

But deputy headteacher Moira Breeze says the league tables are out-of-date and misleading.

The school was put into special measures after a critical Ofsted report in September 2012.

Since then, a new executive headteacher, from an outstanding school in Colchester, has been brought in and the school become an academy in September.

Mrs Breeze, who joined in September, said major improvements had already been made.

She said: “The school was not in a good place, but now it is.

“It is really on the up. We are making lots of progress and the children are doing really well.

“For us, to be in that position is not a reflection of what the school is like at the moment.”

St Clare’s now shares executive headteacher Bridget Harris, from the “outstanding” St Thomas More’s School.

Teachers have also been brought over from the Colchester school for a year to help out.

Mrs Breeze added: “Things are moving forward. It’s a different place to what it was a year ago.

“The league tables are very much misleading and out-ofdate.

“We have really good teachers and are putting in place all the recommendations from Ofsted.”

She admitted the school’s previous record in teaching phonics was “absolutely dreadful”, but said that had been reversed.

Mrs Breeze is now 90 per cent sure the school will be rated “good” after its next inspection.

She said: “There is still a lot of work to be done but the staff here are so good and hardworking.

They all want to do the right thing which is half the battle and the children are super and so well behaved.

“It’s a lovely, happy school. It’s all going really well.”

Frobisher Primary, in Jaywick, just avoided being in the bottom 100.

The school is in the most deprived ward in the country.

A year ago it plunged into the bottom five in Essex league tables, coming 386th out of 390 primaries in the county.

Frobisher has also seen changes in top-level management.

Its latest report said the school was improving but from a “very low” starting point.

No-one was available for comment.