THE special measures status applied to St Paul's CE Primary School in Ramsbottom last February has been lifted.

Government inspectors from Ofsted, the education watchdog body, who visited a year later, reported: "The school no longer requires special measures, since it is now providing an acceptable standard of education for its pupils."

Inspectors found great improvements had been made in academic achievement with "most pupils achieving the standards expected for their age in English, mathematics and science".

The quality of learning was described as "satisfactory or better" in "almost all" lessons and attitudes to learning are "generally good".

Inspectors reported: "The pupils want to learn and have high levels of concentration. The pupils' behaviour in classes and around the school is very good."

Teaching was found to be "sound overall" and described as "satisfactory or better" in 11 of the 12 lessons observed by the inspecting team and it was "good or very good in five".

Staff and pupils at the Crow Lane-based school were found to be well supported by a "sound" leadership and management of the school.

Although the school was found to be providing "satisfactory value for money", the inspecting team found that a number of key issues needed addressing to further improve the pupils' quality of education. They were:

to continue to raise standards in all subjects, particularly in writing and information technology

further improve the quality of teaching

improve assessment, including the quality of marking, and make better use of assessment information to plan lessons as well as setting short-term targets and to track the pupils' progress throughout the year

strengthen the leadership and management by regularly and rigorously monitoring and evaluating all aspects of the school's performance

to develop the strategic role of the governing body.

Head of the school, which is threatened with closure under local authority education proposals to address falling pupil rolls, Mrs Margaret Chamberlain said: "It's been two years' hard pull. The staff stuck with it and we couldn't have done it without the support of the parents. The children have all tried so hard and we are just so pleased."