An inspector from the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) visited Breckland Middle School in July last year and said severe staffing difficulties had prevented the school from monitoring its performance adequately.

Inspector Sheila Nolan also reported that Year 8 pupils had not made enough progress in English, maths and science and that standards were too low.

"Although the school has strengths, it has not made sufficient progress since the last inspection," said the report.

However, a six-month follow up report has praised the school for making improvements.

Additional inpector John Francis said he was of the opinion that the school was making 'satisfactory progress' in addressing the issues for improvement and in raising pupils' achievement.

His letter to the school said: "Some of the key features in the progress made have been good evaluation of what the school needs to do to improve and the high level of commitment by the staff to the success of the initiatives introduced.

"Staff and governors have worked closely and effectively with the local authority to secure improvement. The local authority statement of action has been revised and, along with the school's action plan, provides clear direction to the school."

Mr Francis added: "While standards in English, maths and science remain below average, there are clear signs of improved achievement.

"The most impressive progress is in Years 6 and 7, where pupils have made twice the expected gain in reading, writing and maths in the last six months.

"There has been good progress in setting up systems to record, track and evaluate pupils' performance more closely."

Headteacher Duncan Reed said the inspector had looked at the areas of concern and found the school was making satisfactory progress.

"With the help of the county and local authority we've focused on improving the standard of core subjects, that's where all our efforts have gone," said Mr Reed.

"The inspector was very complimentary of the staff and children. The staff have put tremendous effort into improving things, as I knew they would."