A SOUTHAMPTON school has been praised for its caring ethos by inspectors.

They found that pupils' spiritual, social, moral and cultural development to be very good at St Patrick's Catholic Primary School in Woolston.

Inspectors from the Office for Standards in Education found the school in Fort Road, Southampton, had improved since its last inspection and now provided a "satisfactory" standard of education.

Children with learning difficulties and disabilities were found to achieve well too.

During their two-day visit inspectors found pupils enjoyed school, felt safe, behaved well and benefited from the school's strong pastoral provision.

They praised an improved tracking procedure of pupils' school progress to ensure that youngsters in need of extra support can be quickly identified. However inspectors did point out some inconsistencies regarding lesson plans and teachers' use of assessment data.

Head teacher Elizabeth Kenny said: "We are going to continue to improve from a position of strength.

"There was nothing that came as a surprise for the school in the Ofsted report. We had already identified all of the key issues.

"I would like to thank everyone at St Patrick's for their hard work.

"All of the school staff, governors, pupils and parents have worked really well together."