A FURNESS primary school has been praised after a recent Ofsted inspection handed it a 'Good' rating.

Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, in Lumley Street, was given the grading after a visit by Ofsted lead inspector David Lobodzinski and inspector Stephanie Swift on April 24 and 25.

The school currently has 234 pupils on its roll between the ages of two and 11. 

The report noted that pupils were happy at the school.

It said: "Pupils are happy at this school.

"They told inspectors that they appreciate seeing their classmates each day and that they enjoy their learning.

"Pupils know that there are staff who they can talk to, should they have any worries or concerns."

The inspectors also praised the school's high expectations for pupils and their 'well' behaviour.

"Pupils generally behave well," the report said.

"They understand the school’s mission, which is about treating people fairly. Pupils said that they respect the many differences between people, including disabilities, languages and religion. They know about the importance of equality."

It added: "The school has high expectations for pupils’ achievement and for their wider development. Most pupils rise to these aspirations. Some spoke of future careers that they may wish to pursue, such as in book illustration, film directing and engineering."

While the report noted that the school has developed a 'suitably broad and ambitious' curriculum it also identified areas in which the school could improve.

It said: "In some subjects, the school has not determined the important knowledge that pupils should learn and by when. This results in gaps in some pupils’ knowledge and understanding over time. The school should identify the precise knowledge that pupils should acquire in these subjects and the order that this should be learned."

The report also noted that the school should ensure that staff use 'effective early reading strategies consistently well'.

Another area of improvement is to reduce the levels of 'persistent absence' as according to the inspectors 'too many pupils' do not attend the school 'regularly enough'.