A SCHOOL that was praised in an Ofsted report has moved to tackle the one area inspectors said it needed to improve on, by staging a multicultural week.

Greenland Junior School in South Moor, Stanley, invited the Caribbean steel band Juma Steel to the school as part of its drive to increase multicultural awareness.

Deputy headteacher Lynn George said: "We got a very good Ofsted report.

"The school is in the top five per cent in the country in maths and science and has two achievement awards from the Government for its core subjects."

Ms George said the school had just received a quality mark from the Basic Skills Agency for teaching maths and English.

She said: "The only area that needed to be improved was multicultural awareness.

"Pupils and staff have worked hard to identify ways of promoting multicultural awareness through all areas of the curriculum, including in RE and citizenship.

"The aim is to directly challenge stereotypes, prejudice and racism.

"We are going to put aside a week every year to teach children about cultures around the world."

During the past week, the pupils have learnt about different cultures in Indonesia, France, Brazil, Russia, Australia, Africa, China and the US.