STAFF and pupils are celebrating after a recent inspection resulted in their school being rated as good with outstanding features.

Ofsted inspectors visited Stanford-Le-Hope Primary School and Nursery in late April and have judged the school to be “outstanding” in personal development, behaviour and welfare, with an overall rating of “good”.

Inspectors found the school had improved considerably since the last visit in 2015, when it was identified as in need of improvement.

In response to the report, Head of School, Joanna Bray, said: “We are all delighted. The last two years have been an exciting journey. All of the staff have remained committed to driving forward and sustaining improvement.

“I am extremely proud of the judgements relating to the behaviour of our children, the good and at times outstanding teaching and the memorable learning experience.”

Lead Inspector Joseph Figg said: “Leadership and governance has evolved, teaching has improved markedly and pupils achieve increasingly well across the school.”

“Pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school was exemplary and that there are highly positive relationships between adults and pupils. Pupils feel extremely safe.”

The report identified that children’s outcomes across the school had improved significantly since 2016 and current assessment details show a picture of improving outcomes for the vast majority of year groups.

While in 2015, inspectors rated the quality of teaching as “requires improvement”, the latest report noted that teachers’ subject knowledge was good and they used this to plan lessons that excite and motivate the pupils to learn.

Inspectors also acknowledged that the school’s membership of the St Clere’s Co-Operative Academy Trust has been an important factor in the school’s successful development.

Trisha Jaffe, Chair of the Trust, said: “Our co-operative Trust has improved all its primary schools to good in three years and feels the Ofsted judgement of outstanding for personal development, welfare and behaviour shows even more potential for the future.”