LEIGHTERTON Primary School, near Tetbury, celebrated receiving a ‘good’ in all categories after a recent Ofsted inspection.

The inspection, made by Jen Southall on June 7 and 8, returned a report which marked an improvement from the school's previous inspection. The school was judged as 'requiring improvement' in June 2014.

The school’s recent Ofsted report wrote: “The relentless drive and determination of the headteacher is central to this rapidly improving school.

“Pupils achieve well and make good progress from their starting points in reading, writing and mathematics.

“Teachers and teaching assistants work together very well to support pupils’ development.

“Pupils develop a strong understanding and appreciation of British values through well-planned activities that relate to current events in the news.

“The school successfully develops pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. “Improvements in curriculum design is inspiring and motivating pupils to learn well. It is complemented by an extensive range of enrichment activities to which all pupils have access.”

The report also noted that to improve further and become an outstanding school, the school should ensure that teachers consistently provide the highest levels of challenge, further develop subject leaders, and improve attendance by reducing the number of unauthorised absences.

Headteacher Meryl Hatfield, who worked at the school since September last year, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the results because everybody here works extremely hard.

“We’ve got very high expectations of the children and of ourselves. We believe that everybody can achieve if they believe in themselves.

“It is a really exciting time as we build on the solid foundation and look ahead to the future.

“Our strength is in our leadership, through the governors, the class teachers and our subject leaders.

“Our quality of teaching is a strength as well. The children have done really well in their recent SAT assessment.

“We have a full curriculum. We don’t concentrate on just reading, writing and maths, we teach lots of other subjects as well to make it exciting for them. We have a good focus on science, sport, art, design and technology, music and religious education.

“Next year, we are working on outdoor play and learning and redesigning our play area.

“We’ve also got a new build starting next year and we’re redesigning the curriculum, bringing it to the 21st century and making sure children are learning exciting topics.”