A DORCHESTER first school remains a good school, according to Ofsted, with pupils said to 'thrive' at the 'friendly, vibrant' school.

St Mary's Catholic First School, in Lucetta Lane, had an ungraded inspection across two days from January 10 and 11, and its report published on Thursday, March 2.

It was previously rated good by the education watchdog back in 2017 and inspectors found no change in grading was required during their visit earlier this year.

"Every pupil receives a very warm and positive welcome at the start of each day. Pupils thrive at this friendly, vibrant school," Ofsted said.

"Pupils feel part of a family fully focused on helping them succeed and feel safe. Leaders have high expectations and pupils work hard to meet these."

Youngsters are said to 'behave well' at the Dorchester school and bullying is said to be 'very rare'. 

"Leaders have designed a broad and ambitious curriculum. They have identified the knowledge that pupils need to learn, right from the start of pre-school," Ofsted noted.

"Work to develop pupils’ character is strong. For example, Year 4 pupils have the chance to attend an annual residential, and pupils take part in a wide range of competitive sporting events.

"Leaders have planned a programme of high-quality staff training to develop teachers’ subject knowledge and how to support pupils’ mental health.

"Because of this, staff feel empowered and part of a strong team with a clear purpose."

Ofsted did identify a few areas where improvements were needed, saying: "In a small number of foundation subjects, the key knowledge and the precise order to learn it is not well developed.

"In a small number of foundation subjects, the curriculum is not yet designed and sequenced sufficiently well.

"Consequently, pupils do not consistently achieve as well as they could in these subjects.

"Leaders need to refine the curriculum so that it identifies the precise sequenced, foundational knowledge that pupils must know and remember."

When the watchdog judges a school to be good, it will normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that it remains this way.

This is the first ungraded inspection since the school was graded good in January 2017.