INSPECTORS have awarded top marks to a primary school which has overcome a number of obstacles to achieve a 'very good' rating.

Pinkwell Primary School won the praise from Ofsted following its first ever inspection in December last year.

The school in Pinkwell Lane, Hayes, was established in 1999 following the closure of Pinkwell infant and Pinkwell junior schools.

Headteacher Susan Dowling said: "We are delighted with the results and it's all thanks to the work of the whole team, from cleaning and caretaking staff and dinner time supervisors to teaching staff and governors. We still have some work to do but we will continue to work together to achieve further success."

The report noted that the school has 607 pupils aged from 3 to 11, of which 90 attend nursery part-time.

Ofsted reported that 77 per cent of teaching was good or better, and 40 per cent was good or excellent the latter a 'higher than normal' percentage. Overall the school was described as providing 'very good value for money'.

This was achieved, the report noted, at a time when the school had 15 pupils who were refugees, and due to a highly mobile population, 24 per cent of pupils joined or left the school during term time.

Also 50 per cent of pupils spoke English as an additional language.

The leadership of Mrs Dowling was singled out for praise as was the school's significant achievement in meeting pupils' special educational needs and providing for diverse spiritual, social and cultural needs.

The only area highlighted as needing improvement was the teaching of information and communication technology which had previously been noted.