A HEAD with 39 years experience working as a teacher has bowed out at after 11 years at the helm of a York primary school.

Sue Bell left Carr Infants at the end of the summer term on a high note as the school also received a 'good' grade in its Ofsted inspection and an 'outstanding' in early years provision.

Mrs Bell said she's very proud of the result and it's the first time early years has been graded, and as it accounts for about half the school, it is a great achievement.

She said: "I'm incredibly proud of the team and everybody here.

"They all work very hard and are very committed."

She described her time at the school as an "emotional rollercoaster".

"I feel like I've made the right decision and am going at the right time. We have a beautiful new building and the Ofsted is fantastic," she said.

York Press:

Over the years Mrs Bell, who lives in Wetherby with husband Alasdair, has taught in Barcelona, Leeds, at Hobmoor in York for 11 years, back to Leeds for another decade and then Carr Infants.

She said she now intends to spend time travelling to Australia and Dubai as well as getting to know her first grandchild.

Mrs Bell's not giving up work altogether as from September she takes over as interim head at a school in Wakefield for two terms, but after that she hopes to take a step back.

The Ofsted report said that at the school 'the quality of teaching, particularly in phonics, is good' and that a 'high proportion of pupils are currently producing work of a high standard in reading and writing'.

Part of the 'outstanding' package of early years provision that came in for praise from inspectors included the fact that, 'almost all children make excellent progress in the nursery, particularly in their communication and language development. They quickly become inquisitive, enthusiastic learners, and are prepared extremely well for learning in the Reception classes'.

Click here for a gallery of old school photos.

Areas where there is still some work to be done include: enabling pupils in Year 2, especially the most able, to solve more challenging problems for themselves to strengthen their learning in all subjects and improve the attendance of pupils by establishing more rigorous systems to tackle unauthorised absences.

The new school building has a capacity for 270 KS1pupils from Reception to Year 2, with each year group having three classes.

Mrs Bell's successor as head will be Rebecca Fernandes who is coming to York from Durham and takes over in September.