A NORTH Kensington primary school has been praised by a Government minister after being rated 'outstanding', despite being in special measures three years ago.

In 2005/6, Bevington Primary School, in Bevington Road, Golborne, was deemed a failing school.

But three years, and a lot of hard work later, it has been judged to be one of the most improved schools in the country and earned an 'outstanding' Ofsted report.

Minister for Schools Jim Knight has sent a letter to the 280-pupil school, where 21 different languages are spoken, praising its work.

It reads: "You are amongst the top performing schools. This is a great achievement of which you can be proud."

Headmaster John Towers has pinned the minister's letter on a wall so everyone can share his pride.

He said: "In 2005/6 standards were very low, but our improvement is fairly unprecedented. We are delighted with the new report. It's really nice for the staff and children, who have worked incredibly hard."

Mr Towers points to high quality teaching and the involvement of children in their learning as reasons for their dramatic success in fields such as maths, English and science.

He added that Bevington is now in the top two per cent of primary schools in the country, in terms of progress made by pupils after they join.

The Ofsted report, released last week, praised its 'zero tolerance' attitude to bullying and racism.

Inspectors wrote: "This is an outstanding school which gives pupils an all-round, very high-quality education and prepares them very well socially, emotionally and academically for their future roles in society."

"It makes an outstanding contribution to community cohesion, actively embracing and celebrating the community which it serves. Everyone is treated with unconditional respect."