One small word means a lot at Petteril Bank School – ‘good’.

This rating in the school’s latest Ofsted report is recognition of determined effort by pupils, staff and parents over the past few years.

“I’m very pleased,” says headteacher Jose Hodgkins. “It’s a good recognition of the hard work.”

Two years ago government inspectors said the school “required improvement”.

The new improved rating follows a two-day visit in July.

‘Good’ is the second-highest Ofsted rating. This may be the first time inspectors have rated Petteril Bank School so highly.

“We were disappointed with the previous report,” says Jose. “I think it galvanised us. We followed the advice from that report.

“One big thing is closer working relationships with other schools in the area. We support each other.

"That’s a real strength of schools in south Carlisle. Heads work together. There’s a bi-annual conference for all staff for training.

“We’ve changed homework to more project-based, with quite a creative theme through it. Whether they want to write or create an artifact is up to them.

“It’s a really broad curriculum here, with increased emphasis on literacy and numeracy.”

Rainbow Reading is a programme which focuses on developing the children’s comprehension skills.

The school is still involved in the U Can Shine motivational programme.

Pupils spend time at the Railway Club Community Garden to help them develop life skills.

Jose says: “The last two years we’ve done a lot of things around enterprise.

"The Bright Stars competition enables them to develop their co-operation and team-building skills, the skills they’ll need for work. And they’ve raised money through that for charities.

“We’ve had a lot of support from parents. ‘Stay and play’ sessions are very well attended.

"Parents see what work their children are doing at school, working alongside them in school time. We do that a couple of times a term, some classes more.”

By Christmas the school will have 160 pupils – more than double the number when Jose took over eight years ago.

An extension, including two new classrooms, opened in 2013.

Ofsted rated Petteril Bank “good” in four out of five key areas.

Its report said the quality of teaching has “substantially” improved and that pupils’ behaviour is good.

To continue to improve, the school has employed a specialist teacher for literacy.

Jose says a lot of emphasis is also put on continuing professional development for staff.

“The latest report was a true reflection of where the school is.

“We’ve got a really strong team. We are dedicated to ensuring that our children get the best in terms of education and the wider role of developing them as people, as the citizens of the future.

“We’re a little bit further along that journey.”

She says one of the best things to come out of the report is the statement that the school is a family unit.

Its slogan is ‘Together we can achieve.’