A DALES primary school is celebrating the start of the new term after being judged 'good' by Ofsted.

Threshfield Primary School, which has 62 pupils on its roll, received a 'good' rating in all fields, including leadership, teaching, and outcomes for pupils.

Headteacher Richard Cook and his team were praised by Ofsted inspector, Karen Heath, as 'passionate about ensuring that pupils achieve their best outcomes' and for successfully addressing areas of improvement, from the school's last inspection in 2016.

The school has seen its pupil numbers increase in all classes in recent years - this year's reception intake of 14 pupils is almost double that of last year.

And, in addition to attracting children from surrounding villages, the school also has pupils from Hetton, Gargrave and Skipton.

In her report, Ms Heath, said: “Parents rightly think highly of Threshfield School, which is an integral part of its local community."

Staff have worked successfully to improve the quality of learning and teaching, with working in collaboration with neighbouring schools had 'provided good quality, professional development.'

"This has been highly effective in raising expectations and improving outcomes," she said.

She found pupils to be 'courteous, well-mannered and confident to engage in conversation', listening well to adults and their peers, and showing respect for the views of others.

She also found them to have 'positive attitudes to learning' able to 'work independently' and 'keen to do well'.

In order to improve further, Ms Heath said the school needed to raise attainment by having high expectations of the most able pupils, accelerating the progress of disadvantaged pupils, and ensuring written work is tidy and well presented.

Headteacher, Richard Cook, said: “I am incredibly grateful and proud of the whole school community – teachers, governors and parents - past and present – who invest a huge amount of time and effort to ensure we’re providing the best start for our children. We will continue to provide a stable, structured and consistent learning environment for the pupils of Threshfield School, and we also have some exciting plans for the 2018/19 year working with the wider community.”

More than 40 parents provided feedback to Ofsted, with all saying they would recommend the school with one commenting: “always welcoming going above and beyond.”

Natasha Midgley, chairman of governors, said: “This report confirms the significant progress the school has made under Mr Cook’s leadership and the high quality of education that pupils at Threshfield benefit from.”