THE pastoral care and mental health support provided in a Tyne Valley school has been praised by Ofsted inspectors.

A short inspection of Hexham’s Queen Elizabeth High School in March found that the school continued to be ‘good’, with lead inspector Darren Stewart highlighting the support available for pupils’ well-being.

According to inspectors, other highlights at the school included:

l leaders were determined to provide a high quality educational experience for all pupils, regardless of their ability or background;

l a high proportion of pupils made exceptional progress and attained highly;

l teachers had strong knowledge of the subjects they taught; the quality of teaching allowed a high proportion of pupils to make good progress in all subjects;

l behaviour in the school was excellent and pupils were courteous and respectful to each other;

l pupils enjoyed coming to school.

The school’s executive headteacher, Graeme Atkins, said: “Although Section 8, or short, inspections are somewhat narrow in scope, and don’t really do justice to all that a school such as QEHS provides, I am very pleased with the many positive comments contained in the lead inspector’s letter to me.

“In particular, as well as recognising the exceptional progress a high proportion of our students are enabled to make, I am pleased he praised our strong pastoral care and the high priority we place on students’ well-being, including mental health support.

“I would like to thank all teachers and support staff at QEHS for their unstinting hard work, our students who conducted themselves impeccably on the day of the inspection as we knew they would, and our parents and carers for their ongoing positive support.”

Queen Elizabeth High School was judged ‘good’ by Ofsted during a full inspection in November 2015, with inspectors praising the ‘high quality of education’ and the happiness of pupils.