ONE of Wiltshire's smallest schools has dragged itself out of the mire with a triumphant new Ofsted report.

Broad Town C of E Primary School near Wootton Bassett is erasing the memory of the stinging Ofsted report that put it into special measures more than 18 months ago.

Its latest report praises the efforts of the three teachers and the 56 pupils, and especially the headteacher, Sue Ellis.

Mrs Ellis worked as a head-teacher in Northumberland before moving to Broad Town School in May 1999, two months after the previous Ofsted report.

She paid tribute to the team behind Broad Town's success.

"We have a dedicated team who have worked hard to create sus-tainable systems to make the school work better," she said.

"It certainly was a challenge for all of us, but now we have a happy hardworking environment and the children enjoy being challenged.

"We have tried to build the pupils' self-esteem so that they want to come to school and take more ownership over what goes on."

The report praised the leader-ship of Broad Town school and the steady progress of the staff.

It also said the schools new strengths were the curriculum, the use of assessments and the help given to develop pupils' spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development.

Mrs Ellis said: "All the staff try to lead by example in their relationships with each other and that is imparted to the children."

Broad Town, whose pupils are aged from 4-11-years-old, was also praised for its special needs provision.

It employs a highly qualified member of staff and a learning support assistant to screen new pupils and to discover any potential problems.

Marion Kent, chair of governors, is delighted with the schools continued success.

"It was a team effort by our staff, pupils, parents, local education authority, governors," she said.

"Everybody pulled together, but it was definitely the new headteacher, Sue Ellis, that got everything up and running in the right order."

The school plans to celebrate their glowing Ofsted report with a Christmas theatre extravaganza.

Entitled the Broad Town Broadcasting Corporation, it will include a performance of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and will take place on the December 18 and 19.