A VILLAGE junior school already highly rated has gone up further in Ofsted’s estimation.

Inspectors had plenty of good things to say about the 165-pupil Ormesby Village Junior School after they visited just before Christmas. And their judgement - just short of outstanding - was backed up by a survey of parents whose responses were overwhelmingly positive, agreeing with a range of statements about what the school did well.

Headteacher Debra Whiting said in a letter to parents the results were all the more pleasing given the criteria had changed since the previous inspection causing other good schools to dip to satisfactory.

She said: “This time there was no question that we are good - the question was whether we could be outstanding.

“We have a clear vision of what we need to do to secure that over all outstanding judgement and it can be achieved. We were delighted.”

Inspectors rated nearly all areas as good with some as outstanding, particularly in the areas of keeping safe, healthy lifestyles, music, and contribution to the wider community.

The 14-page report praises the headteacher for her “strong leadership” and “clear vision” which ensure all pupils receive a good education.

It adds that good teaching and ambitious target setting meant that pupils make good and sometimes outstanding progress.

Pupils are said to be motivated, well-behaved and keen to learn.

Children say there is no bullying and that they feel extremely safe.

Learning is said to be brisk and teachers have high expectations.

The only niggle was that teachers sometimes talked for too long and in a few lessons more able children were not always sufficiently challenged.

Elsewhere the report said: “In some instances the school has gone beyond reasonable expectations to ensure pupils can attend school safely are included in all activities.”

Mrs Whiting praised her teaching team and governing body.

“County said we should go for outstanding and when we fell just short they said they would look forward to being at the feed back meeting next time when we get the outstanding judgement overall. It is just tweaks and little things,” she added.

Inspector Julie Winyard said in a letter to the children that Ormesby was a good school where teachers took outstanding care of them. She noted their excellent behaviour, attendance and musical ability.

But she did ask that children present their work more neatly and were given more opportunities to produce longer pieces of writing.

Of Norfolk’s 362 primary phase schools, 35 are judged as outstanding.

Of those, 17 are primary schools, 17 are infant schools and one is a nursery.

There are currently no junior schools in Norfolk with an outstanding Ofsted rating.