CHILDREN and staff at a rural North Tyne first school are celebrating after receiving yet another ‘good’ Ofsted rating.

West Woodburn First School was inspected on March 28, and teaching and learning at the school were praised.

In a letter to executive headteacher Caroline Elsey, published on the Ofsted website, inspector Fiona Manuel said the leadership had maintained the good quality of education in the school following a previous inspection which was carried out in December 2011.

The letter praised the school for taking on the challenge, set out in the previous inspection report, to improve pupils’ outcomes in mathematics and reach a greater depth of learning in mathematics and other subjects.

It also praised the alterations staff had made to the curriculum, including half-termly ‘homework grids’ that allow pupils an element of choice based on their individual needs and interests, which were a “favourite with parents as well as pupils.”

The letter said a strong emphasis was put on keeping pupils safe, pupils behave well and their attitudes to learning were positive.

It read: “Parents say that their children ‘rush’ to get to school each morning because they are happy, well looked after and enjoy all that the school has to offer ‘academically and socially’.”

To continue working at this level, the school was advised to ensure that additional adults were deployed effectively to focus upon pupils’ learning during lessons, and that teaching consistently allowed the most able pupils to reach a greater depth of learning.

Executive headteacher Caroline Elsey said: “We are delighted with our recent Ofsted inspection result and thrilled that our hard work and effort has been recognised.

“The inspector recognised that children are happy, well looked after and safe and the quality of teaching is consistently ‘good’.

“We are a small school but have a big heart and we take pride in providing a strong, family-based environment for our children to learn, explore and develop in a safe, nurturing environment.”