St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School is celebrating after Ofsted rated the school ‘Good’ in a dramatic turnaround.

New Head teacher Spencer Bragg, who took on the reins of the school in 2014 said he was “ecstatic” about the latest rating, which comes two years after Ofsted gave the school a ‘Requires Improvement’ rating in 2014.

The damning verdict was the second laid on the school by the government body, after St Josephs, on Scratton Rd in Stanford-le-Hope, was also rated ‘Requires Improvement’ in 2012.

Head Mr Bragg, who is also a former pupil of the school, and born and bred in Stanford-le-hope, said “I’m ecstatic - exhausted but ecstatic! We knew we were ready and I was confident.

“The first time I got the call, in 2015, that Ofsted were coming in we were here burning the midnight oil, I think we were still working at 1am!”

He added that a “terrific” team effort had turned the school’s fortunes around, along with a new creative curriculum.

Mr Bragg, who joined the school straight after its last Ofsted inspection, said that collaboration was key to turning things around.

He said: “As a new head coming into the school the Ofsted verdict in 2014 gave me a very good picture as to where the problems lay.

“When I came in it was a majority of NQTs on the staff.We needed more experience and so we created the team. Then lesser experienced staff worked more closely alongside more experienced staff.”

The head, who worked as Acting Head for Crays Hill Primary School in Billericay prior to joining St Joseph’s in Stanford-le-Hope, added: “The lovely thing about the report is that the key stakeholders are acknowledged, the parents, the children, the governors, the teaching and support staff.”

Inspectors in the Ofsted report judged the school to be good in all four areas of the framework, adding: “Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is a strength of the school and is at the heart of everything the school does’.

They also praised the “interesting and innovative curriculum” which “stimulates pupils’ curiosity and thirst for learning.”