A Glossop primary school is celebrating after Ofsted inspectors rated all areas as 'Good' following a two-day inspection.

The quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and early years provision at Saint Mary’s Catholic Voluntary Academy were all judged to be ‘Good’.

Inspectors said that pupils are happy and enjoy attending Saint Mary’s, in Gladstone Street, which is part of the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust.

They said pupils feel safe and cared for by the staff and their attitude to learning was positive. Pupils’ behaviour was also praised in the report and praised the behaviour.

Inspectors said: “Older pupils take on responsibilities, including as lunchtime stewards. They are role models for the younger pupils and children in school. The school environment is calm. Pupils behave well.”

The curriculum was described by inspectors as being “well planned and ambitious for all pupils.”

It was noted that leaders have high ambitions for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and they are quick to identify pupils’ additional needs. The wide range of opportunities to promote pupils’ personal development was also highlighted.

Paul Ackers, head teacher at Saint Mary’s, said: “The success of our school is down to a real team effort being in place and the findings are testament to that. The staff and Local Governing Body work incredibly hard and are fully committed to giving the best of themselves for your children.

“We are so very grateful to them all and it was wonderful to hear the inspectors’ feedback throughout the process about all the good things they were seeing and hearing.

“Equally, we are very proud of all our pupils, and it was lovely to hear the inspectors talk about the children in such glowing terms.

“There are lots of positives that can be taken from the report, and this is down to all the hard work that has taken place over the past few years. “It has been a period of rapid growth, and this has been pivotal to enabling our school to be where it is now. We also know that we can improve further, and this is something that we will embrace and rise to the challenge of.”

Kevin Gritton, Chief Executive of the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust, said: “We were delighted to see the wonderful caring community of St Mary’s captured in this report and the hard work of all of the community recognised.

“The school has made rapid improvements over recent years and we will continue to work closely with leaders at the school to ensure this great success story continues.”

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