PUPILS and staff at a special school in Walthamstow are celebrating a perfect Ofsted inspection result.

Whitefield School in MacDonald Road, which is said to be the largest special school in Europe with more than 300 pupils, was this month given the highest possible rating of “outstanding” for every category, following an inspection.

Inspector Anne Duffy and her team told pupils: “Your school is outstanding. You all seem to enjoy it. You are safe and extremely well cared for.

“We were pleased to see how well you are doing with your targets and the excellent progress you make by the time you are ready to leave school.

“You have many fantastic lessons and there are plenty of really interesting things for you to do both in and out of school.”

The headteacher Neils Chapman was praised for his committed leadership and for continuing to move the school forward since a previous good inspection report.

The senior management team were also praised for creating a management structure in which staff are accountable for their work.

The inspectors found pupils to be open, welcoming and proud of their school.

They said older pupils are encouraged to help younger pupils and behaviour was described as excellent because of pupils' understanding of others' difficulties and needs.

Overall achievement was rated excellent and the school was praised for its processes of assessment, tracking, and monitoring which allow gaps to be identified and action taken both for individual pupils and groups.