A CARING Furness school community – where "pupils are at the heart of everything" – has received high praise from inspectors and is looking forward to adding nursery provision.

Ofsted has judged Broughton CE Primary School to be good in all areas.

The education watchdog said headteacher, Jacki Graham-Kevan, "leads with passion and commitment", the school is a "caring community" based on Christian values and "the needs of the pupils are at the heart of everything the school does".

The report says the "broad and balanced curriculum provides plenty of opportunities for pupils to enjoy learning about life beyond school" and "pupils are excited about these opportunities and find learning interesting and exciting".

Ofsted said: "Good teaching and a lively curriculum in the early years provide children with a secure and happy start to school life."

Inspectors also saw that pupils make "good progress" from their initial starting points in English and maths in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two and are "well prepared" for the next stage in their education.

The report says parents and staff are "very positive about the school" and they "particularly value the strong impact that the headteacher and other senior leaders have had on the development of the school".

Ofsted said pupils "behave well and are well mannered, polite and courteous". The school is described as "a calm, orderly and purposeful place to learn". Pupils "show great respect to adults and to one another".

The governing body is noted as providing leaders with "effective support" to improve the quality of education provided by the school.

Mrs Graham-Kevan said: "We were delighted to maintain our good rating. The report highlighted many of the things we feel we do particularly well; the strengths of our 'broad and balanced curriculum', how our 'relationships between staff and pupils are excellent', our relationship with parents who stated: 'staff always have the children’s interests at heart. The ethos is excellent.'

"We have a whole school focus on outdoor learning and believe children really benefit from regular forest schools sessions, which we are able to hold in our extensive grounds. Another high priority of our school is ensuring reading for pleasure and we have built a lovely new library to inspire our children. Ofsted stated this was, “an area of peace, relaxation and imagination”.

From September 2018 the school is expanding to open a nursery for children from two years old. The private nursery on site, Broughton Under Fives, will become part of the primary school, with its staff moving across to the school. The under fives group is closed on Wednesday afternoons, but the new nursery will be open full time during the weekdays.

Mrs Graham-Kevan said the school has listened to the needs of parents, and from September 2018 the breakfast club will open from 7am, as well as continuing to offer the after school cover until 6pm.