A head has pledged to turn around a village school which has been told it must improve by the government's education watchdog.

Blenheim Park Primary School at Wicken Green, near Fakenham, was visited by an Osted inspector in June. She concluded it was 'an inadequate school'.

But her report said it had started showing signs of improvement since the arrival of a new executive head teacher, who along with a new governing body were 'ambitious for the pupils to succeed'. She added: 'They are clear that much has to be done to overcome the challenges faced by the school.

'Actions taken by the executive head teacher are showing signs of improvement in the school. The new staff team are supportive of the drive for improvement.'

New head Lisa Cook, who is also head at St Edmund's Primary School, in King's Lynn, now divides her tinme between the two.

She said Blenheim Park, which has just 82 pupils, would benefit from working in partnership with the larger school.

'The school has been on a long journey and we still have a long way to go,' she said. 'We're very focussed, it mentioned in the report that we have high aspirations and we know what needs to be done.'

Ms Cook said Blenheim Park had suffered from a high level of staff sickness, which had made it difficult to achieve consistency.

'At St Edmunds we have a record of aschool improvement,' she added. 'My main aim is greater consistency in terms of staffing.'

The Ofsted report said Ms Cook had made 'a promising start' since being appointed.

It added: 'Over time, weak leadership, governance and teaching has led to pupils making inadequate progress in English, mathematics and a range of subjects across the school.

'The high turnover of staff, together with long term illness, has hindered the development of leadership within the school. Consequently, the leadership of teaching and learning has proved to be ineffective.'