STAFF, pupils and parents have been praised for helping Didcot Girls’ School achieve an ‘outstanding’ rating.

Headteacher Rachael Warwick said she was delighted the Manor Crescent school had been given the highest possible ranking by school standards body Ofsted.

It marks a dramatic improvement for the school, which was rated ‘satisfactory’ – at that time the third tier of Ofsted ranking – when Mrs Warwick took over as head in 2010.

The seven-strong inspection team described her as a “visionary and inspiring leader” who “lives and breathes high aspirations for the pupils and community.”

Mrs Warwick said the news the school had been rated ‘outstanding’ was good not just for pupils but for the whole town.

She said: “We have worked at it very solidly for five years, it has always been our aim to get to outstanding.

“We have a fantastic team of 150 teachers and support staff who care passionately about the school and the kids.

“Our students are great ambassadors for the school and that comes across in the way they act in class and their conduct across the site.

“We have a lot of parents who give a lot of time up for the school.

“Didcot has had some pretty awful things happen in the past few years and we want this to be unadulterated, fantastic news for the town.”

Didcot Girls’ School, which has 1,212 pupils, rose from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘good’ when it was last inspected in 2012.

In August, 72 per cent of pupils achieved five GCSE grades at A* to C, including English and Maths.

Inspectors said this put the school considerably above the national average.

The inspection report, which followed an Ofsted visit in November, also praised the “interesting, inspiring and imaginative” teaching and the ambition the school had for its pupils.

Mrs Warwick said: “It is about consistently giving outstanding teaching and we have achieved that because we have people who are passionate about what they do.

“We want our pupils to get the best job they can and the most interesting career.

“We want the school to feel like a happy and supportive place and I think we have that right at the moment.”

In their report, the inspectors highlighted some areas where the school could improve even further, including some aspects of pupils’ behaviour.

The report added that pupils behaved excellently in lessons and conducted themselves safely, politely and considerately.Mrs Warwick said: “We want to take on all of the feedback in the report because that is how you get better.

An outstanding school is not a perfect school, there are always areas for improvement.”