A raft of improvements has been announced at a Hove school after government inspectors highlighted "serious weaknesses".

Hangleton Infant School, in Dale View, was criticised in its latest Ofsted report for the consistency and quality of teaching and assessment which inspectors said was "not as effective as it should be".

The report went on: "This means that some pupils do not achieve the standards of which they are capable."

But inspectors noted the care and support given by head teacher Nichola Rennie and her staff to the 260 pupils at the school, the positive partnership established with parents and the knowledge of the governors.

They highlighted a number of strengths, including the special needs provision and the good behaviour of pupils.

But staff have already begun to implement changes.

Mrs Rennie, together with the management team of the school, the governors, and the school's adviser, are taking steps to improve monitoring of the pupils' progress and the organisation of the teaching, which includes giving clearer guidance to staff.

Mrs Rennie said: "We have had a reduced senior management team until this term, but we are now better placed than ever before to put in measures that will ensure the children develop their full potential.

"The inspectors recognised that most of the teaching is sound and that the teaching in reception classes was 100 per cent satisfactory or above.

"We are now working together to make sure the teaching is consistent right the way through the school."

She said many of the areas highlighted for improvement had already been identified by staff and written into the development plan when the inspectors visited.

The attainment of pupils at Hangleton Infants is above the national average for reading and average in writing and mathematics.

Inspectors recognised the school had taken steps towards improvements since Mrs Rennie had joined the school 18 months ago.

They noted the school development plan "is now a much better and more effective and well-costed document" and that "better progress is now being made in information and communications technology and music which is leading to higher standards".

Another of the school's strengths is the use of non-teaching staff.

The inspectors said "learning support assistants are used well and give pupils effective support" and the "secretary, bursar, caretaker, and cleaners make a positive contribution to the quality of pupils' daily lives at school".