A PRIMARY school ordered by Ofsted to pull their socks up days after topping the local league tables feel vindicated after inspectors praised their efforts to improve.

The education watchdog rated Stratton’s St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School as requiring improvement when they visited the school in Davenwood last December.

The inspection report was published days after figures revealed 90 per cent of pupils achieve a Level 4B or above in their reading and maths tests and a level 4 or above in their writing tests – setting them well above the national average of 67 per cent.

In the report, inspectors particularly criticised children’s learning progress, their achievement expectations, and the accuracy of data monitoring.

Earlier this month inspectors re-visted the school to carry out a Section 8 monitoring visit, and praised the work that had already taken place to make the required improvements.

In a letter sent to the headteacher, inspector Simon Rowe said: “A very good start has been made to address the areas identified as in need of improvement at the recent Ofsted inspection.

“Expectations as to what students are able to achieve and the quality of teaching have been raised significantly.

“Rapid improvement is evident across the school.

“Teachers are held more robustly to account for the quality of their teaching and the progress pupils make. Pupils’ exhibit very positive attitudes to learning.’’ It continued: “They speak knowledgeably about their learning and teachers provide more effective written feedback to pupils when marking books.

“The school draws on a range of effective support from a local good school, a teaching school and the school improvement partner.’’ Clare-Marie Burchall, headteacher at St Catherine’s, said: “For the HMI inspector to state that, ‘Rapid improvement is evident across the school’, and ‘the quality of teaching being raised significantly’ is praise indeed.”