The head of North Cheshire Jewish Primary School was “very happy” to achieve a good rating from Ofsted in its first full, inspection for 17 years.

The school had been ranked outstanding since 2007 when Ofsted last carried out a full assessment.

Headteacher Michael Woolf said, “It is a big relief to get the inspection done and although we would love to have remained outstanding, we are very happy with good.”

In a letter to parents, he explained, “It’s important to recognise that the inspection framework has undergone numerous changes, during this 17 year period. Currently, maintaining an outstanding rating is extremely challenging nationwide. In fact, less than 17 per cent of all schools maintain this exceptional standard post-inspection.”

The school had unsuccessfully challenged some of the findings made by inspectors in their latest visit.

Pupils “understand and follow the school’s values of ‘aspire, believe and achieve’,” Ofsted reported and “support each other to ensure that the ‘school is built on kindness’.”

They “enjoy performing for older residents in the community and they are proud of the money that they raise for people in need in the local area”.

Most pupils were polite, well-mannered and thoughtful — although inspectors said they sometimes experienced low-level disruption.

The school set high expectations, gave children “a rich body of knowledge” and provided teachers with the resources and training to deliver the curriculum well.

Mr Woolf told parents that Ofsted had “acknowledged our revised approach to supporting positive behavior through our ‘School Built on Kindness’ initiative. This approach was introduced last year and is already making significant headway toward full implementation.”

Getting in tune for Rosh Hashanah at North Cheshire

Meanwhile, there was some positive news for schools in the Charedi sector from recent inspections.

Talmud Torah D’Chasidei Belz, which caters for infant boys in Manchester, was rated good in all areas. In most of the secular subjects it offered, pupils achieved well, Ofsted said.

Edgware Jewish Girls-Beis Chinuch, a primary school in London, was upgraded from “requires improvement” to good, with pupils demonstrating “outstanding” behaviour and attitudes, inspectors found.

Talmud Torah Machzikei Hadass, an independent school in Stamford Hill that teaches boys in the Belz Chasidic community from three to 16, was upgraded from “inadequate” to “requires improvement”.

Since its last inspection, the school had taken steps to improve its quality of education, including the prioritisation of early reading, Ofsted said.

“Almost all pupils speak English as an additional language when they

join the school. Many of these pupils have limited prior knowledge of the English language,” inspectors noted.

Staff delivered the school’s phonics programme effectively.and worked well with families to enable them to support their children’s reading at home. “By the end of year 2, pupils are able to read confidently and fluently,” Ofsted said.

These are some of the last schools to receive an overall assessment grade, as the government has dropped this for inspections for this academic year.