Top marks from Ofsted for village school

Inspectors visited St Mary’s RC Primary School, Sabden, and were impressed with what they saw.

They were pleased with the children’s progress, quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils, plus leadership and management.

The report said: “Teaching is consistently good and sometimes outstanding. Pupils are well cared for and treated as individuals. They care for each other and behave very well so they thrive and make good progress. They feel safe in school.

“The school provides a rich curriculum that provides extremely well for the different abilities and interests of its pupils.”

Commenting on the report, headteacher Miss Claire Halstead, said: “The whole school is really pleased with such a positive report.”

During the inspection, officers noted the only reason St Mary’s is not yet an outstanding school because: “The quality of teaching does not yet result in pupils making outstanding progress. Marking is not always consistent and work does not always match the abilities of different groups of pupils.”