A SCHOOL in Stacksteads has started its summer holidays with good news from Ofsted.

St Joseph’s RC Primary School is celebrating being lifted from ‘requires improvement’, following an inspection by the education watchdog in October, to ‘good’ after inspectors returned earlier this month.

The school in Huttock Lane End has been praised for helping children make very good progress in English and maths and giving high quality support to youngsters with special educational needs and those supported by extra funding.

The level of teaching is deemed good overall, with some outstanding, the methods is used to capture pupils’ interests and make learning fun were well received, as was students’ behaviour, and the headteacher and her deputy were judged ‘highly effective in driving the school forward’.

Lynn Elder, headteacher at St Joseph's, said: “We’re all delighted to be starting the summer break with such good news from Ofsted.

"It's great to see the hard work of our enthusiastic, dedicated staff rewarded in this way, not forgetting of course the contribution of our pupils and their families.

“Ofsted noted that St Joseph's feels like a family in its own right, and that we all look after and care for each other.

“I was particularly pleased that the inspectors commented favourably on the excellent progress made by our pupils who have special educational needs or other difficulties, due to high-quality teaching and support.

“They also noticed that lessons were fun and challenging, that teachers want the best for each child and that our pupils enjoy coming to school.

“We're all very proud of the report and we'll be working with renewed commitment when we return from a well-earned summer break."

Tony Gallagher, chair of governors at St Joseph's, added: “We've had excellent support from headteachers from other schools who have helped us since the previous Ofsted report, and our new head is doing a great job.”