‘Excellent’ for St Martin’s from Ofsted

But the quality of education requires improvement. The rest of the categories were marked as good.

Only 13% of primary schools inspected by Ofsted in England have received an excellent rating.

The school has nearly 550 pupils aged between four and 11.

Head teacher Clare Giles has led the school for the last 15 months, having previously been deputy head.

‘Overall, we are thrilled with the findings,’ she said.

‘Being awarded an excellent judgement for the area of personal development and welfare is a real achievement, which shows how we put our children at the heart of all the decisions we make in our school

‘We, of course, take on board all the comments made in the report and will continue to work on identified areas for improvement.’

The report praised the school’s leadership and said staff felt supported.

Pupils were enthusiastic about the school and their place within it.

Leaders have been taking decisive action to improve the school’s curriculum. But more needs to be done to break down the learning into small manageable chunks.

Early reading has improved at the school and pupils are enjoy talking about books. Those that need help catching up receive it.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities also receive focused support.

However concerns were raised that some teachers did not tailor learning activities sufficiently well for pupils with SEND.

Director of education Nick Hynes said the report showed that staff always put children at the heart of everything they do.

‘Achieving an excellent rating in any category is incredibly difficult, as evidenced by the fact only 13% of schools in England have achieved it under this framework, and I would like to thank and congratulate all staff at the school,’ he said.

‘We strive for continual improvement and if any rating doesn’t quite reach the “good” threshold then by definition it requires improvement. I know Clare and her team will carry on driving through improvements where needed.’

The new external inspection agreement with Ofsted was put in place last year. The inspection grading categories range from inadequate to requires improvement, good and excellent.

Local schools have had a rocky time with the new system. While Vale Primary had a good report, reports into St Sampson’s High and Les Voies both flagged up failings.