A town centre school has been given a glowing report by Ofsted inspectors, who praised it for the outstanding teaching given to pupils.

 

St Mary's Church of England Primary, on Stocks Lane, has been judged as 'outstanding' in all areas including the achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, behaviour of pupils as well as leadership and management.

 

St Mary's converted to an academy school in February last year and also provides support to two other primaries: All Saints' Darfield, which also belongs to the Academy Trust, and Pipers Grove Primary, which converts to an academy in June.

 

The inspector's report says St Mary's teaching enables pupils to make outstanding progress in reading, writing and mathematics, and pupils use these skills exceptionally well in other subjects, such as history.

 

It states: "Teaching is outstanding because staff make very close checks on pupils' learning and match the work very precisely to the needs of every pupils.

"Teaching assistants make a very strong contribution to the learning of pupils of all abilities."