A DORCHESTER school came top of the class after achieving the highest grade possible in each area of a Government assessment.

Ofsted inspectors said the Prince of Wales School in Maiden Castle Road has a 'distinctive, caring, inclusive ethos'.

The overall effectiveness of the school was graded one or 'outstanding' by the inspectors, the highest possible ranking a school can achieve.

An inspector's report said: "This is an outstanding school with a distinctive, caring, inclusive ethos.

"It really is a special place where a very talented, impressively committed staff team uses its specialist skills extremely effectively and with empathy to do the very best for the children.

"Parents are particularly appreciative and supportive of the school.

"Two typical comments were: 'the child is at the heart of the Prince of Wales School' and 'this school is just wonderful - I can't praise it highly enough'."

Lead inspector Alan Baxter, in an open letter to the school's pupils, said: 'It was a privilege and a real pleasure to visit your school.

Your friendliness towards each other and with visitors to the school clearly showed that you thoroughly enjoy coming to school.' He added that he had asked teachers to 'give you more opportunities across the range of subjects to consider for yourselves how well you are doing and what you need to do next to make your work even better'.

The school's headteacher, Peter Farrington, said: "This is a superb achievement for the whole school community and is just reward for everyone's consistently high efforts over many years."

Chairman of the school's board of governors, Susan O'Flanagan, said: "The inspectors have confirmed what we already knew, that the Prince of Wales School really does inspire children to learn."