Hillside Community First School in Verwood received positive comments from Ofsted as inspectors praised programmes that encourage children to learn responsibility and foster a productive learning environment.

The report follows an ungraded inspection of the school on Wednesday, May 10 and Thursday, May 11 after which Ofsted chose to retain the rating of “Good” for Hillside Community First School.

The Ofsted report said: “Pupils lead on many projects, such as being members of the school parliament, ecowarriors and play leaders. These responsibilities offer them a chance to make a meaningful contribution to school life. Staff provide clubs, including tennis, creative media, gardening and a variety of sports clubs. These help to foster pupils’ interests.”

The report further said that parents spoke highly of the school and that leaders have developed a “well-structured mathematics curriculum” and “aspire for all pupils to develop a love of reading.”

Ofsted also said that “staff support pupils with educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to learn the same curriculum as their peers. Leaders meet pupils’ needs effectively. A minority of pupils receive bespoke support.”

Despite high overall quality, the report said areas where there was room for improvement were increasing opportunities for pupils to develop reasoning and problem-solving skills, and solidifying curriculum for newly introduced subjects of study such as religious education and computing.