A Mansfield Wood-house school is celebrating its first overall good rating from Ofsted inspectors.

St Edmund’s Church of England Primary School and Foundation Unit was judged good in all five areas of the inspection — effectiveness of leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare; outcomes for pupils; and Early Years provision.

The head of the Church Hill Avenue school, Nadeem Shah, and the chairman of governors, Kenny Nelson, said in a letter to parents: “We feel this is a completely accurate and fair judgment.

“It is a testament to all the hard work the staff team and governors have been putting in since the last inspection in March 2014 (when the school was rated as requiring improvement).

“We passionately believe that every child deserves to be taught in a ‘Good’ school and we can now officially say that we provide this level of education here.

“We are particularly pleased with all the fantastically supportive comments the inspection team received from our parents/carers, as we know they work with us every day and not just for a two-day inspection.”

Mr Nelson was appointed in 2013 and Mr Shah was named head in January last year.

Their letter added: “We have also appointed strong practitioners in all strategic leadership positions since then and the work of our governing body has been superb.

“We have taken on a large number of new staff since January 2015 and every one has added real strength to the team, alongside the great team that has remained with us over the years.”

The governing body thanked Nottinghamshire Council Council, in particular Debbie Litchfield, and Lowdham Primary School and Holly Primary School, Forest Town, and said the school would now strive for an outstanding Ofsted rating.

Head a “key inspiration”

Ofsted inspectors praised St Edmund’s head, Nadeem Shah, as the “key inspiration for the many improvements” at the school.

They said Mr Shah “has ensured that leadership roles are shared out and that the quality of leadership and management provided by all other leaders is now good.”

The inspection team was also impressed that parents held the school in exceptionally high regard.

One parent said: ‘They are doing an amazing job at turning this school around. Well done!”

Inspectors said governors, senior leaders and staff were united in their desire and drive to continually improve the school, which was well placed to continue to improve.

The report added that pupils behaved well. They enjoyed school, attended regularly, worked hard and said the school was much better than it used to be.

Pupils showed a good understanding of British values and were well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Pictured is Head teacher Nadeem Shah, left, with chairman of governors Kenny Nelson.