Ofsted has rated an "outstanding" Watford junior school as maintaining its place at the top of the class.

Chater Junior School, based in Addiscombe Road, was given full marks once again by inspectors in June in the four areas of pupils' achievement, quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils, and leadership and management.

The report said that "teaching across the school is consistently good and much is outstanding.

"Teachers’ expectations are high. They plan lessons that challenge and extend all groups of pupils."

The report added that the school’s outstanding areas included:

  • Pupils make rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics across the school so that, by the end of Year 6, almost all are expected to reach and a high proportion are on track to exceed the nationally expected levels in English and mathematics.
  • Pupils have superb attitudes to learning. They get on very well together and their relationship with adults is excellent, with the result that behaviour in and around the school is outstanding.
  • The headteacher and senior leaders, supported by the governing body, are dedicated to maintaining and improving the school. The quality of teaching in mathematics, in particular, has improved since the last inspection.
  • A great strength of the school is the emphasis it places on promoting pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This is a feature in every subject and makes a significant contribution to pupils’ personal development by consistently promoting their care and respect for each other.
  • Governors are well informed and support the school exceptionally well. They hold the school to account about the progress all pupils make and the link to the quality of teaching.

The only real area of improvement for the school was deemed to be in needing to "continue to narrow the gap between English and mathematics across the school by sharing and modelling the best practice in teaching and learning across the school, including in the way that work is marked".