A Catholic primary school has been praised by Ofsted inspectors, writes Madeleine Pennell.

Standards at St Thomas More RC Primary School, in Kidlington, were well above average, according to a report by the team from the Office For Standards in Education.

Pupils scored highly in national curriculum tests for 11-year-olds.

Teaching was good and the children were learning effectively. Pupils were generally well behaved and had positive attitudes to their work, the report said. Headteacher Maria Sweeney led and managed the school well and received good support from the governing body.

There was a good partnership between the school and parents who received good information.

The only blot in the report was the arrangements for the class of under-fives which were described as "unsatisfactory".

The standards reached by five-year-olds were average but the report said the children's work could be better. The teacher was away on maternity leave and the pre-school class, which contained five pupils, was being taken by a temporary teacher when the inspection team visited the school.

Miss Sweeney said: "The inspector was looking for more of a structured play curriculum. But parents were very happy with what their children were learning.

We have been working with an early years consultant for a year and from this term it will all change because of the Government's new foundation stage which sets out targets for the three to five-year-old age group. "We were delighted with the rest of the report. We are an above-average school."