DETERMINED leaders, good teachers and enthusiastic pupils were all praised in the latest Ofsted report for a school.

Stickland's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School in Evershot had an Ofsted inspection on May 21-22 and was rated 'Good' across the board.

The inspector said: "The school is a safe, friendly and encouraging place to learn." The report goes on to say that leaders at the school "have acted with determination and skill," and governors have a clear strategy.

Pupils are "well behaved" and "work enthusiastically" for the teachers, who have "high expectations of all pupils."

Aside from the mainstream success of the school, children in the school's early years programme make good progress across the curriculum.

The school's SEND provision is also good, as pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities achieve well.

Kathy McCann, the headteacher at Stickland's, said: "Since our last inspection, governors, staff and the children with the support of our parents have worked extremely hard.

"Our latest Ofsted report reflects this and is external validation of the good school that we are.

"I am extremely proud to be the headteacher of such a happy and friendly school where children are valued and supported academically, socially and emotionally to enable them to achieve their full potential."

The education watchdog also told the school that there were a few points to improve upon in order to achieve an 'Outstanding' grade from them at the next inspection.

The report said the school needs to "sharpen the quality of leaders’ evaluations so that they hold a more precise picture of where teaching and pupils’ progress could improve further."

Teaching, learning and assessment could also be improved by ensuring that teachers insist on accuracy in pupils’ writing, particularly with their spelling and handwriting.

Developing pupils’ ability in maths classes was also an improvement point mentioned by Ofsted.