A Birmingham primary headteacher praised by Ofsted as a visionary leader has given Labour "minus a million" for education.

Moira Foster-Brown spoke out as Ofsted published a glowing report describing her school - Birchfield Community School in Handsworth - as "outstanding".

The report attributed the school's "rapid" improvement to the "visionary leadership of the headteacher" and an "outstanding team of leaders across the school".

However, Ms Foster-Brown claimed additional responsibilities, regulations and bureaucracy had made the job of teaching more difficult.

"Every year it gets harder and every year the work load increases because of the Government reforms," she said.

"In terms of paper work, the bureaucracy and the management of school. The Government restricts the positives because of their policies. They say you can do this and that but you can't because of the hurdles along the way.

"Tony Blair's famous saying should be 'education money, education money, education money'. That is what delivers more quality teaching.

"It is so sad what the Government hasn't done. It is really, really bad."

Ofsted noted that Birchfield Community School served an inner-city area containing some of the highest levels of social and economic deprivation in the country.

The majority of pupils are from ethnic backgrounds and do not speak English as a first language. The school cohort also includes children of asylum seekers and families in temporary housing.

Despite this, inspectors found standards had risen at a rate "far faster" than the national trend since Ofsted last visited.

They rated teaching as "excellent overall" and highlighted enthusiastic pupils stimulated by a "rich and varied curriculum".

Ofsted said the school offered "excellent value for money".

But Ms Foster-Brown claimed Government policies to reduce the influence of local education authorities had hindered her job as headteacher of a primary.

Recent initiatives have focused on freeing up schools to manage themselves, represented by "independent state" city academies and trust schools.

According to Ms Foster-Brown, in reality it meant headteachers lost the support of LEA education professionals and instead were at the mercy of unqualified school governors who had too much power.

"The local authority is such a small part of life today and that is very sad. We are seeing the decline of the support that is available for schools.

"Governing bodies have more power now and they are not experts. A lot of them are lay people. Is there any other profession where lay people make such big decisions?

"I would not dream of going to hospital and saying these people are going to have an operation and these people aren't.

"But that is the equivalent to what they are doing in schools. That concerns me. The LEA are the experts but their hands are tied." Ofsted applauded the school's extensive work with partners in the local community, helping it secure additional expertise and resources.

But Ms Foster-Brown claimed the increased pressure on headteachers to do this kind of work was one of the reasons for the lack of people willing to take on the responsibility.

"If you look at the report you will see we are heavily involved in regeneration partners," she said.

"All of that is about keeping your school up to date and using other agencies. But it is a 15, 16, 20-hour day. All of that is after school."

Asked to rate the Government on its education record, Ms Foster Brown said: "Out of a score of ten I would give them minus a million. They have done a lot of good things but I don't think they have got it quite right yet."

However, she added: "It is hard work but that is what we are paid for."