The innovative approach of staff at an inner-city primary school has earned it an ‘outstanding’ inspection verdict.

St Stephen’s Church of England Primary in Round Street, West Bowling, Bradford, was praised by an Ofsted inspection team.

Lesley Heathcote, the school’s Bradford-born head teacher of six years, said the glowing nine-page evaluation of the school’s performance was its best report yet.

Various initiatives brought in since its previous inspection three years ago have paid off, said inspectors. For example, pupils work in groups to practice brain training exercises on a batch of Nintendo DS hand-held computers, while pupils who record full attendance in a term are awarded a T-shirt. Pupils who make it to school on all 190 days of the academic year win a coach trip to the Great Yorkshire Show.

Inspectors said the school works meticulously to improve pupils’ attendance. This year, for the first time, St Stephen’s, and the other schools in its Local Area Partnership, closed for two days for Eid in September and November. To balance this, the school was shut for only seven school days for Easter.

Pupils are predominantly of Pakistani heritage and, according to the report, the school takes its duty to promote community cohesion seriously.

The school also has creative links with Bradford University, Bradford College and Bradford Playhouse.

Other highlights noted in the report include year-on-year rises in pupils’ standards in English, maths and science, pupils behaviour is described as “first-rate” and teachers are creative, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

Mrs Heathcote said: “Everyone is tremendously pleased with the report. We certainly felt it was a result of a number of years of hard work. I’m pleased that all our staff were praised.

“Overall, what comes out in the report is the way we care for the children at St Stephen’s.”

The report notes the strong team spirit of the staff, something which has filtered down to pupils.