IT WAS a school judged to be failing by Ofsted four years ago.
Now, Appleton Primary School has been given a second good rating in two years with outstanding features.
The school was inspected earlier this month and told it is achieving well in four key areas – the achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, the behaviour of pupils and leadership and management.
After falling into special measures in 2009, staff worked hard to bring the school out in just 18 months.
In 2011, it went from a special measures judgment straight to good, an unusual feat.
It has now been rated good in all four key areas that are inspected – an improvement on the previous inspection.
Inspectors said: "There is a strong sense of community throughout the school. Pupils work and play well together. They enjoy helping each other.
"The headteacher and senior leaders provide the school with a clear view of how successful the school can be and have created a strong team spirit among staff.
"Responsibilities are shared among senior leaders and middle managers. They work closely together to check the quality of teaching and progress being made by pupils."
The inspection was a surprise for staff after having only been inspected two years ago.
Mary Langton, headteacher at the school, said: "We are really, really pleased. We didn't expect another visit and the fact that we have continued to improve is great, especially considering the fact the criteria has changed again.
"We are really delighted with the report."
Inspectors praised staff for the quality of teaching and the fact the pupils' performance in lessons are assessed regularly.
Mrs Langton said: "The inspectors said our teaching was overall good with outstanding features, which is very complimentary.
"The children did us very proud and it was great to see them mentioned so much in the report.
"They said the children were part of a community, which is what we work on.
"The children are eager to learn and there is a strong sense of community here.
"They work and play together and that is really, really important to us as a school, as well as teaching and progression."
Staff at the school had one afternoon's notice before the inspection.
Mrs Langton said: "It was a total surprise. The fact we have improved since the last inspection is the most important thing.
"When you are judged to be a good school, it is hard to keep that momentum going and I am really proud of everyone at Appleton.
"We were in special measures in 2009 and came out in 18 months, which was, in itself, a bit of a feat.
"This is also why we are so pleased, because it shows that all the hard work from going from special measures to good has paid off and the school has improved further."
Inspectors said the school was not quite outstanding because, although teaching is consistently good, not enough is outstanding and some work is not challenging enough for pupils.
