A head teacher has hailed his committed staff for seeing the school through its most testing 12 months.

Miriam Lord Community Primary, in Manningham, Bradford, has had its Notice to Improve removed by Ofsted after a positive inspection visit.

Reporting inspector Ruth James returned a ‘satisfactory’ verdict. Her report, published today, says the school is rapidly improving and there is a “relentless focus” on progress.

Head teacher Bryan Harrison who is working under a new governing body after the resignation of nine governors last year, hailed his team of staff.

He said the report last June had led to only one member of staff leaving, which showed how determined his charges were to turn the school around.

Mr Harrison said: “The sense of relief this week has been enormous after 14 months of what can only be described as incredibly hard work. The commitment from staff has been amazing. I put the result down to an excellent leadership team, fantastic staff and really good support from parents.”

According to the report, standards in Key Stage One are rising, there is more good and outstanding teaching and support for nursery children is excellent.

The school’s attendance record has improved, from 89.1 per cent last March to 94.2 per cent and the proportion of pupils who are persistently absent has fallen from 6.1 per cent to 2.2 per cent.

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