ECO-friendly Churchstanton Primary School has been praised in a recent Ofsted survey inspection programme looking at Education for Sustainable Development.

The purpose of the inspection was to provide valuable information to the Ofsted officer, which will later contribute to a national evaluation and report.

The inspection is part of the new Ofsted framework which includes two inspections every three years.

The report stated that the overall effectiveness of ESD at Churchstanton was judged to be good with some outstanding features.

It highlighted that all pupils had a good understanding of issues such as reducing, re-using and recycling materials, the impact of different ways of travelling to school and the links between rights and responsibilities."

The report said: "All pupils have a good understanding of how their own decisions and those of their families can have an impact on other people. They can discuss examples from the school and also about wider environmental concerns.

"All pupils show extremely high levels of care - for themselves, for others in the school, and for the school's environment; they can talk about how this relates to the wider environment and community.

"Excellent use is made of the school grounds to help pupils learn about ESD. A particularly good example is the use of the woodland area that is part of the school grounds and there are plans to develop this more within the formal curriculum. Other good examples include the use of the school pond and teaching pupils about reducing electricity consumption by turning off lights and electrical equipment when not in use, conserving water, recycling, and composting food waste."

Leadership and management of ESD was reported as being outstanding along with the provision for inclusion.

Areas for improvement included the need to establish a framework to co-ordinate work on ESD across the school and make ESD-related topics more explicit for pupils to ensure they make good progress.