A special school in Skipton is celebrating after being rated as “good”.

An Ofsted inspector visited Brooklands Community Special School, on Burnside Avenue, in mid-October and reported that the students made good progress and their achievements were “good or better”, despite starting from lower than national averages.

Behaviour and safety were judged to be good, attendance rates high and students demonstrated “outstanding personal gains”.

Leadership and management were also rated as good, with the inspector saying headteacher Denise Sansom was outstanding at recognising the strengths and weaknesses of the school.

“I’m absolutely delighted,” said Mrs Sansom. “The inspector said some lovely things about the children and their relationship with each other. There has also been some outstanding teaching and learning taking place.”

But Mrs Sansom was also keen to praise the school governors.

“The chairman of governors, Wendy Clarke, and her team have worked very hard at monitoring, evaluating and supporting the school.”

Ofsted reported Brooklands was not yet an outstanding school because a few parents had said they did not always receive as much information as they needed about their children’s care and education.

The inspector also said teaching methods did not always promote active and independent learning and some capable sixth formers did not yet have a full range of opportunities to gain qualifications equivalent to GCSE.

Mrs Sansom said to make improvements the school would set “smarter” targets.