In their report the inspectors noted “several changes in leadership have caused periods of instability”, so the good report was welcomed by acting head, Dr Ian Richardson.

And he said everyone at the school should be proud of the report.

“Teaching, learning, achievement, pastoral care, welfare, health and safety – the list goes on – were all found to be good.

“We have made progress since the last inspection in many areas and while the inspectors offered some useful pointers as to further areas for improvement, and action has already begun here, they declared standards of behaviour throughout the school to be excellent.

“In fact, their many compliments to our pupils are what gave us the most pleasure.

“The inspectors found students ‘enjoyed outstanding relationships with each other’, ‘good and highly supportive relationships with the staff’ and their behaviour overall was exemplary.”

The school caters for a total of 173 boarding and day pupils aged from four to 18.

Founded in 1923, it is situated in a Georgian manor house in 45 acres of wooded grounds.

It was previously inspected in 2002 and since then, the present inspection report by the Independent Schools Inspectorate said, the school is largely successful in meeting its aims and sound progress has been made.

But the inspectors made some criticism of aspects including that some curriculum planning lacks detail and it is not monitored or co-ordinated across the whole school.

They also said monitoring of teaching and learning and the appraisal system are not carried out rigorously enough and the school development plan is not focused enough.

However, the inspectors also commented the school is aware of most of the issues and senior staff members were beginning to consider the way forward.

But they also said that progress has been slow overall since the last inspection and several changes of leadership since then caused periods of instability.

They were also concerned that older boarding pupils beyond year eight have to sleep in bunk beds and the provision of activities for them at weekends is limited and unsatisfactory with a significant number of pupils finding themselves under-occupied and bored.

The school is holding an open morning on 19 April from 10am to 12.30pm.