INSPECTORS have praised a village school as "very welcoming" while pupils' achievements were said to be "very good".

And headteacher Stephen Blackman said staff and pupils at Great Alne Primary School, in School Road, were thrilled after receiving the report after the Ofsted inspection in November.

Mr Blackman said: "The result was tremendous for us. We had a very good report back in 1999 but were told we had improved further since then."

A summary of the report said pupils' standards by the age of 11 were well above average in English, maths and science.

It added: "Pupils are very well cared for and the ethos of the school is very welcoming."

While the school had no significant weaknesses, it was told a minor issue for improvement was a need for pupils to take greater pride in their written work.

The school's chairman of governors, Don Hannah, said: "The report is absolutely tremendous. Everyone pulls together at this school - staff, parents and children - which results in a very good standard of education.