A PRIMARY school whose head welcomes parents and children at the gate every morning has rec-eived top marks from education inspectors.

Staff, pupils and governors at Britannia Primary, Rochdale Road, Bacup, have received the highest possible outstanding' grading from schools watch-dog Ofsted after an inspection in December.

Just 14 per cent of primary school are rated outstanding in Ofsted inspections.

Inspectors commended head Peter Morley's practice of standing at the school gate at the beginning and end of every day.

Mr Morley said the school created a sense of community, which had helped improve on its previous inspection in 2004 when it was rated good'.

He said: "The good thing about this school is that it is a real community and we all work well together. Staff are fantastic and we are privileged to have a lot of really good children who want to learn.

"This is really good for Bacup and the area - we also have had Holy Trinity at Stacksteads achieving an outstanding rating - it's really pleasing," added Mr Morley, who has been head at the school for four years and lives in Bacup.

Inspectors congratulated the school for the curriculum and were especially impressed by the decision to teach French.

The reaction from parents was also found to be extremely positive. In surveys they uniformly praised standards of teaching.

Inspectors said the school offers excellent value for money.

Youngsters leaving at the end of Year Six have test results significantly above the nat-ional average.

This was rounded off by the school's best-ever result in the 2007 school leavers tests, with very good results in English and maths and 'promising' in science subjects.

Inspector Phil Taylor said: "Pupils are making outstand-ing progress and achieving standards generally well above average."

Pastoral care and teamwork displayed by teachers was also commented upon by the Ofsted team.