A village school has been rated “good” by Ofsted for the fourth time in a row.

Houghton Primary School received a clean sweep of “goods” in each of the four categories covered by the inspection report, published last week.

Achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils and leadership and management were all deemed to be good by inspectors, who visited last month.

They noted the contribution of teaching assistants was a particular strength and gave teachers top marks, concluding that teaching was good and occasionally outstanding.

Headteacher Georgina Young’s leadership was described as “outstanding” and “the catalyst that has enabled leaders, managers and governors to improve teaching and raise achievement since the previous inspection”.

Overall, said the report, pupils of all abilities make good progress in all classes from reception onwards, with standards in Years 2 and 6 above average for English and maths. This was down to teachers identifying the needs of each child.

The use of the internet to help with maths and reading was highlighted by inspectors, who found that pupils enjoyed competing with classmates and other youngsters in schools in Britain and abroad.

The school is said to have “a purposeful buzz to it” and the children have excellent manners, said the report.

Helping girls remain friends was a particular focus, having been identified as a concern previously, and the headteacher had led a new approach to avoid youngsters “falling out”.

To reach the outstanding bracket, inspectors said teachers needed to improve their marking to show pupils how to improve.

But the report noted that leaders are “very ambitious to move the school to outstanding”, with changes having been made to help pupils achieve even more and improve teaching.

Mrs Young said: “We were particularly pleased the work of our teaching assistants was highlighted as a key strength. I am enormously proud of our school’s achievements. The school continues to improve, as we work hard to make a difference for every child.”