STAFF and pupils at a York primary school are celebrating a good inspection report.

Wheldrake with Thorganby CE Primary School, which has 217 pupils, was inspected under the new tougher Ofsted framework, having previously been inspected in January 2009.

Despite the more challenging criteria, the school retained its “good” status and inspectors noted that “this good and improving school” is working towards being the top grade of “outstanding”.

The inspectors said: “From generally average starting points, pupils make good progress throughout the school and achieve well”, and that by “the end of Year 6, overall standards are well above average”.

Head teacher Alison Shaw said she was pleased with the outcome.

She said: “The school is pleased that the inspectors noted the good progress made by pupils with special educational needs and those eligible for the pupil premium funding.

“Teaching at Wheldrake with Thorganby was found to be good with occasional examples of outstanding practice across the school.”

Inspection team leader Rajinder Harrison said that in order to become an outstanding school “teaching needs to be consistently good and more is outstanding to speed up pupils’ progress and raise their achievement in all subjects, especially mathematics.

“The school needs to improve leadership and management by monitoring more rigorously the quality of teachers’ planning and marking, particularly in mathematics, and its effect on learning throughout the school.”

The report also said that the school improvement plan accurately identifies the areas to develop further and the work undertaken so far “has already had significant impact on raising achievement”, with senior leaders, including the governing body, ensuring that improvements are strongly focused on raising pupils’ standards and progress.

The inspectors found that pupils’ attendance was outstanding and that they “form trusting relationships with staff, and so feel safe and happy at school.”