THE town’s MP has congratulated a Basingstoke secondary school for achieving a “good” rating from Ofsted.

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller praised Cranbourne School for its recent Ofsted inspection report, saying: “Excellent education is a priority for parents, young people, and employers in Basingstoke.

“Ofsted provides important scrutiny on how schools are performing and this result shows Cranbourne achieved real progress.”

Cllr Sam Jeans and Cllr Arun Mummalaneni, Conservative borough councillors for Brookvale and Kings Furlong, also offered their congratulations to the school, in Wessex Close, and said they were “delighted” to hear of the “much deserved” Ofsted rating.

“Education is one of the key priorities for our local communities. Ever since we were elected, we have been paying special attention on the provision of local education and have been working with schools,” the councillors said in a joint statement.

Cllr Mummalaneni visited Cranbourne in June to open its new dyslexia unit, during which he met staff and students.

He said: “This Ofsted inspection report confirms our observation of its outstanding leadership team. We take this opportunity to congratulate Mrs Aplin [headteacher] and her team and we assure her our continued support to reach their goal of an outstanding rating at their next inspection.

“Currently, the school achieved good rating in the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and personal development. It is an incredible achievement and everyone in the school deserves a big kudos for this achievement and we are looking forward to continuing onwards and upwards.”