EDUCATION assessors have given a Harrow special school top marks for the second time in an almost faultless inspection.

Visitors from education watchdog Ofsted were impressed enough by the staff and youngsters at Woodlands Primary School in Bransgrove Road, Edgware, to award the highest outstanding grade once again.

The school accommodates 96 children aged between three and 11 with severe and complex learning difficulties who all have Statements of Special Educational Needs.

Headteacher John Feltham, who has now overseen two consecutive outstanding inspections, said: “We are really pleased and extremely happy. We feel a great sense of pride in the achievement of the school. It reflects the commitment of the team at the school.

“We have focused on a lot of innovative work around children’s learning and assessment of the children’s work, and the quality of the teaching. We have a vision to create ‘courageous and confident’ learners, and we’re always looking at ways that we can develop further.”

Mr Feltham said the school was at capacity, is oversubscribed and has a waiting list.

He said he was in discussion with Harrow Council about expansion, and confirmed there are no plans to convert to an academy.

Inspectors who visited the school in June wrote in their report: “Pupils’ achievement is outstanding.

“Their progress is supported by well-designed personal learning plans and rigorous target-setting. “They make excellent progress in developing their communication and learning skills.

“Teaching is outstanding because expectations of pupils are consistently high and assessment of progress is very thorough.”

Ofsted praised the rigorous assessment of children’s work, the school’s curriculum and its promotion of equality of opportunity, and the behaviour and safeguarding of pupils.

The only thing inspectors told the school to improve to ‘ensure that those parts of lessons involving the whole class consistently engage all pupils by giving teaching assistants more of a key role in whole-class activities devising strategies to enable all pupils to contribute’.