PUPILS and staff were celebrating after their "outstanding" schools and nurseries featured on a national roll of honour.

The Ofsted list of England's most successful education establishments includes 31 in Staffordshire, eight in Stoke-on-Trent and 24 in Cheshire East.

There were almost 40,000 inspections nationally during the 2008/9 academic year and 19 per cent of schools achieved an overall outstanding rating.

Inspectors found these top schools share several key ingredients, including consistently good teaching and leadership, exceptional progress by youngsters and first-class support systems.

Many also use imaginative approaches to motivate pupils.

That is the case at Crescent Primary, in Meir, where pupils have organised achievement assemblies so they can present their classmates with prizes.

And at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary, in Stoke, staff arranged for a Viking long ship to be displayed in the playground to bring children's history lessons alive.

Youngsters at Alsager Highfields Primary used their knowledge of the Victorians to prepare an animated computer slide show for younger children.

But May Bank Infants' School has gone one step further and involved pupils in drawing up the curriculum.

Teachers still come up with topics they have to study, but the children draw up a list of questions outlining what they want to find out.

Ofsted's latest list of the most successful schools includes three local secondary schools, St Joseph's College, in Trent Vale, Sandbach High, and Brine Leas High, Nantwich.

Inspectors said St Joseph's "continues to strive for excellence in all that it does".

And headteacher Roisin Maguire, pictured, said: "We are delighted to be named as outstanding in the annual report.

"I believe we are outstanding because we know, value and love each and every person and we have developed very supportive and productive relationships."

Three of the schools, Hermitage Primary, in Holmes Chapel, St Anne's Catholic Primary, in Nantwich, and Westminster Nursery School, in Crewe, were part of a national pilot of a new inspection system.

Commenting on life at Westminster Nursery, inspectors said: "The nursery buzzes with activity and enjoyment.

"Children rush in at the start of their session, 'abandon' their parents happily, self-register and promptly immerse themselves in the exciting activities on offer".

Special schools also feature among the best, with Blackfriars School, in Newcastle, Crewe's Springfield School, and Horton Lodge School, in Rudyard, all praised for their excellent work.

Ofsted found that they have a determination to ensure every young person succeeds, no matter what their need or disability.

At Blackfriars students learn at an "extremely rapid pace", with staff combining just the right amount of challenge and support.

And Springfield students even act as advocates for their more vulnerable classmates.

Pupils who are good talkers become 'buddies' with youngsters who cannot speak, so they can help them to communicate their feelings and views.

There are also plenty of inventive approaches across the area's best childcare settings.

At Cheeky Monkeys Day Nursery, in Uttoxeter, children learned about the Egyptians by building their own pyramids, writing hieroglyphics, and racing their homemade toy camels.

Staff from Oaklands Nursery and Children's Centre, in Porthill, take youngsters to shops to help them master real-life maths. And at La Maternelle, a care club, which is based at Pear Tree Primary, in Stapeley, children learn about industry through running role-play businesses, including their own cake shop, named after local bakery firm Chatwin's.