A Rotherham school has been praised for the way it helps pupils from a wide variety of backgrounds to join the school community and learn and develop together.

Following a recent inspection of the school by Government watchdog Ofsted, St. Ann's Junior and Infant school in Eastwood was judged to give outstanding care and guidance to children.

Children at the school come from over 20 countries and speak over 20 languages and inspectors were impressed by the way pupils and and staff got on. They saw no bullying, racism or poor behaviour during their two day inspection last November.

Inspectors said in their report:
"School leaders go to great lengths to include everyone in every aspect of the school's provision. As one child put it, 'Everyone is treated the same.' The school is a highly cohesive community where children and adults from widely different backgrounds all feel valued.

"The reason for this successfully cohesive community lies in the quite exceptional care and guidance that staff give to all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who speak little English and those who are most vulnerable."

The school overall was judged as 'satisfactory' and as Head teacher Alan Staton explained: "Our overall rating is negatively affected as our attainment levels are below the national average because of the level of ability of many pupils when they first come to the school.

"We have a high number of children coming into every year group who have never attended school before. For our pupils the success of the school is in how far pupils progress from these starting points and how they benefit from being part of the school community."

Inspectors were particularly impressed with the way in which children took responsibility for their own learning and for maintaining the school's strong tradition for being a friendly and welcoming place to learn.
The report says "All pupils showed very good attitudes to learning and made good progress........Relationships are warm and friendly, both in and out of the classroom, often touched with humour. Everyone accepts and just gets on with each other. One pupil said, 'Respect is the top word here,' and this is obvious throughout the school."

After receiving the report, Chair of Governors, Mrs. Joan Dales, said "We are very pleased to have received such a positive report. Schools such as ours face many challenges and it is encouraging that Ofsted have recognised the importance of the positive learning environment that staff and children work hard together to create.

"Without this, children would not make the satisfactory and in many cases, good progress that inspectors observed."

The school still has to address some issues following the inspection, particularly making sure that all children continue to make good progress by ensuring that the teaching is always good in every year group. The school also needs to improve how it uses modern technology to support learning.
Head teacher Alan Staton said: "We will continue to work hard to improve the quality of our teaching throughout school. There are many examples where this is already very good and we will use these as models of good practice to further strengthen our teaching profile.

Inspectors also found that parents were pleased with the school. Inspectors spoke to parents and analysed surveys. The report notes that parents said: "teachers were very accessible, so they know how well their children are doing and value the family learning sessions. They were very happy that their children were safe and well-cared for and felt that 'this is a family school.'
"Where all too often we hear about a fragmented society, it is good to know that here is at least one place where everyone is only too pleased to get on well together, regardless of their background and beliefs," Mr Staton said.