A COUNTY Hall inspection chief has vowed to turn around a failing Shaftesbury school.

The Shaftesbury Church of England Primary School is in "special measures" after government schools inspectors said it was failing to give pupils an acceptable standard of education.

Mark Loveys, a senior inspector at Dorset County Council, has been parachuted in as acting head teacher in a bid to revive the school's failing fortunes.

The inspection chief said he admired the determination of staff to put the school back on the road to success.

"I have been very impressed by the serious commitment of staff towards addressing the issues identified by Ofsted, and their determination to lift it out of special measures," said Mr Loveys.

And the educational standards expert lit a beacon of hope for concerned parents with children at the school.

"I am convinced that the expertise and will exists to achieve this as quickly as possible," Mr Loveys said.

The schools inspector has been backed by educational experts from the Church of England.

Marion Purser, who represents the Diocese of Salisbury on the school's board of governors, praised the attitude of teachers in the wake of the report.

"The staff are very committed. They were as devastated by the report as the governors," said Mrs Purser.

"It's a very difficult time for the teaching staff, but they have been amazingly good," she added.

Teachers were now committed to improvements for the remainder of the school year, said the church governor.

"The main aim is getting it turned around by September," said Mrs Purser.

The school's last Ofsted report praised the atmosphere of the school and the children's behaviour, saying pupils showed a caring attitude to each other, and knew right from wrong.

But learning standards in the school were criticised, particularly for science and reading.

Standards for children in year six were "well below average", and performance in science was "exceptionally low," inspectors said.