A primary school in Rickmansworth has been rated 'Good' by Ofsted, with inspectors full of praise for its "distinctive family ethos".

St Peter’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School, in Church Lane, retained its status as a good school after a visit by inspectors in July, with the report recently being published by the education watchdog.

It found that pupils are "happy and kept safe", with staff making them feel welcome from day one.

Praise was given to behaviour at the school, with the report noting that the rare disputes that do arise are "quickly" resolved by staff.

There was plenty of praise in the report for the "high expectations" placed on pupils at St Peter's.

The report says: "Pupils thrive when there are high expectations for their achievements. This is particularly the case in reading and mathematics. Pupils learn clearly defined content and receive helpful support when they struggle."

However, inspectors also pointed out that in some cases pupils produce work which "does not reflect their potential."

The provision for pupils with special educational needs (SEND) was praised, with inspectors finding that the "broad programme" of learning is accessible to all.

Pupils with SEND have their needs "accurately identified", according to the report.

According to the report, teaching is well organised "in most areas", particularly in the core subjects of English and mathematics.

Work has been done to improve pupils reading levels after a dip following the Covid-19 pandemic. Inspectors found that this work has paid off, describing pupils as "enthusiastic readers".

Despite the praise, inspectors warned that there are areas the school to improve on, with the report saying: "The way the school teaches some foundation subjects is not helping all pupils build strong knowledge and skills.

"The work produced by pupils in these subjects is not always as good as it could be."

St Peter's attendance was praised with "very few" pupils repeatedly absent, while the report also found that staff are happy working at the school.

The report found the school's safeguarding arrangements to be effective.

This will be its last single-word graded Ofsted inspection, after the government announced last month that the controversial system would be scrapped from next year.