A Bradford school is celebrating after education watchdog inspectors revealed it has made huge progress and announced it is no longer struggling.

In 2002 Ofsted found Poplars Farm Primary school, in Bolton, was still reeling from the district's schools re-organisation in 2000 and was found to have serious weaknesses.

All but two of the teachers had joined the Poplars Park Road school within the previous two years and inspectors said there was a lack of consistency in teaching.

Now the school is starting a new year on a positive note after Ofsted found high standards in maths and English and 'sound' teaching and learning overall.

And the proportion of good or better teaching has risen to 53 per cent from 34 per cent.

Head teacher Peter Sumpter said he was delighted but said he was not complacent.

"It's a huge achievement and everyone, the staff, pupils and the parents, have worked hard to pull us out of serious weaknesses," he said.

"But we still have a long way to go. The work and search for improvement will never end."

In 2002 the inspectors said three areas had to be improved - the consistency and quality of teaching, standards in English and Maths, and overall progress of students.

Now the school is also celebrating its best ever SATs results for Key Stage Two.

In English 82 per cent of 11-year-olds gained level four and above, with 38 per cent gaining level five. The overall national average was 73 per cent.

In maths 85 per cent achieved level four and above, compared to 74 per cent nationally, and 44 per cent got level five.

And in science 91 per cent gained level four and above - the national average was 86 per cent - and 48 per cent got level five.

"This is a double celebration for us and we're extremely proud of how well the pupils did," he said.

He said special before-school maths lessons were held for year six pupils last year which they attended voluntarily.

"They showed real commitment to their exams and the effort they put in was excellent," he said.

One area the school still has to focus on is the consistency of its teaching.

Mr Sumpter this was being tackled through setting up a leadership team to replace the former management team and support from Education Bradford education consultants.

He said there were daily training sessions with experienced teachers sharing their skills and knowledge with others.

"Children were making good progress in some classes but not others," he said.

"I sat in on hundreds of lessons and this helped us see how things can be improved."

With 253 pupils, the school was praised for its activities celebrating its multicultural community, which includes youngsters from 13 different nationalities and backgrounds, ranging from Indian and Moroccan to Korean and Iraqi.