CHILDREN and staff are celebrating an "excellent" report from Government inspectors.

The Ofsted inspection found that parents were most pleased with the "very high" standards and the pupils' "high expectations" and "good behaviour" at St Andrew's RC Primary School, South Bank.

The report said: "The team finds that behaviour, attitudes and values are even better than parents suggest.

"This is an excellent school, providing a high quality of education for its pupils. The quality of leadership and management is outstanding with a clear focus on fulfilling the school's most important aim of developing the full potential of pupils."

Teaching was described as "very good and a strength of the school", pupils standards in the core subjects - English, maths and science - were "excellent" and, taking all subjects together, the school's "very high performance" was in the top five per cent nationally.

Also described as excellent were relationships in the classrooms and pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

The report said: "Standards have risen considerably since the last Ofsted inspection in 1996 and have remained very high for the last four years."

Kathleen Flanagan, chairwoman of governors, said: "The school has every reason to feel proud of its achievements. This is an outstanding report, which rightly acknowledges the contribution of each member of the school community in working together to achieve the highest standards of education for our children."