A NEWPORT primary school has been given the second-highest rating by the education watchdog.

St David’s Roman Catholic Primary School, which is on Park Crescent, was inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales (Estyn) in June and the results were released this week.

Inspectors found the school’s current performance and prospects of improvement to be “good” - which is the second best rating.

The report also found that the primary school has 210 pupils, with some learning English as an additional language.

According to the report most pupils “attain well and progress significantly from their starting points” and “teaching is successful and supports pupils’ achievements well”.

The school was tested in four categories - how good are outcomes, provision, leadership and management - and all of which were given the rating of “good”.

The inspector said: “Nearly all pupils’ reading skills are developing well. In the foundation phase, many pupils read with fluency.

“They read accurately with thoughtful expression. They offer sensible opinions when contributing to play scripts and diary entries.

“Most pupils display a firm understanding of different contexts, characters and plots in the stories they read as a group and individually.

“They predict in detail what different characters are likely to do in a story and identify the characteristics of heroes and villains intelligently.”

The latest inspection also judged that the current leadership has a “clear vision” for the school.

The inspectors said: “The acting head teacher has a clear vision for the school that promotes high expectations and a caring ethos. She focuses effectively on improving outcomes and provision for all pupils.

“As a result, pupils and staff feel valued and appreciated for the important contributions that they make to school life.

“The acting head teacher distributes responsibilities well among staff at all levels and collaborative teamwork is a strength of the school.

“The senior leadership team plays a valuable role in school improvement, for example in the effective development of pupils’ reading and writing across the curriculum.”

To read the report in full, visit http://bit.ly/2usJukc