A small north Norfolk village school's care, guidance and support for its pupils has been judged 'outstanding' by Ofsted.

The government inspector gave Kelling Primary an overall 'good' rating but singled out its pastoral care for special praise. Children felt secure, confident and knew that they would be helped it they got stuck or upset, said the inspector.

The school's last Ofsted was in February 2009 and the latest inspection found that it had continued to improve and children were making good progress.

Higher-attaining children were challenged effectively to reach higher levels while pupils with special needs were making similar progress to their peers.

One parent told the inspector: 'Kelling has all the best attributes of a small village school; nurturing them but at the same time stretching them (the pupils) academically.'

Teaching children to understand the importance of healthy lifestyles and giving pupils access to a good range of exercise activities were among other strengths noted by the inspector.

But he wants to see pupils given more encouragement to develop their independent learning skills and for links to be established with schools abroad and with UK schools which are different to Kelling, to broaden the children's experiences.

The school, which has 39 pupils, has had an acting headteacher, Adrian Platt, since Easter and aims to make a permanent appointment early next year.

Mr Platt said: 'Our pupils achieve well academically but there is so much more to learning than that. We have an award-winning new environmental project and garden, recently installed kitchen area and improved outside area for the early years. We pride ourselves in our family approach and ability to ensure every child has the personalised learning opportunities to succeed here, and for the future.'