GLOWING with family pride, pupils and staff at this Southampton school have every reason to cheer their team efforts.

St Anne’s Catholic School has been graded “good with outstanding features”

by watchdog Ofsted, which praised the impressive community ethos at the school.

Inspectors singled out the behaviour and safety of the 1,100 pupils at the Carlton Road school for praise, along with the way it is led.

They wrote glowingly of the “great pride” pupils show in their school, and head teacher Beverley Murtagh said she believes part of its strength is that “everybody helps everybody else”.

Lead inspector Alan Taylor- Bennett praised good levels of achievement at the school, which has consistently produced some of the best GCSE results in Southampton.

He wrote: “Students want to learn and they respond very well to teachers, allowing them to puzzle things out for themselves within a framework of support and high levels of challenge.”

“In lessons, they show considerable interest in their work and a genuine willingness to take part.”

Mr Taylor-Bennett said St Anne’s should aim to improve by further increasing the proportion of outstanding teaching.

He added inspectors had quickly understood why pupils have pride in their school after their two-day visit, quoting one Year 8 pupil who said it “feels like a big family” because of the way everyone mixes together.

Mrs Murtagh, who along with her senior team was said to “focus consistently on securing the highest levels of achievement and quality of wellbeing for all students”, said she was delighted with Ofsted’s findings.

She said: “This report is confirmation of what we already celebrate at St Anne’s – our pupils are happy, safe, learn well and achieve highly.

“The ethos of the school is very, very important.

“I think they learn it at primary school, and the oldest girls in the sixth form make it a tradition and help us run the school. They’re very respectful to the staff – the relationships between staff and students help run the school.

“What we want is creative teaching and learning, involving the girls in their own learning to the maximum.”