STAFF and children at Lady Modiford’s Church of England Primary School in Walkhampton are celebrating this week after receiving a ‘good’ inspection report from Ofsted — the first result since it became a multi-academy trust in 2016.

The school was inspected in July and was judged good in all aspects — effectiveness of leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, personal development, behaviour and welfare, outcomes for pupils and early years provision.

The school is part of the West Dartmoor Federation, which comprises Lady Modiford’s and Meavy Church of England Primary School.

The report highlighted that leaders and governors were ambitious for the school. The lead inspector said that they ‘work well together to improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and pupils’ progress’. He added: ‘Leaders have created a strong sense of collaboration among staff, who are reflective on their leadership and teaching. As a result, staff are constantly looking for ways to improve their practice and pupils’ outcomes.’

The inspector observed pupils’ learning across the school. He said: ‘The curriculum is a strength of the school. It uses the local environment and community well. This enables pupils to develop further an understanding of the world around them and themselves as citizens.

‘Teachers’ and additional adults’ subject knowledge is strong. Their use of questioning develops pupils’ thinking. This ensures that current pupils make strong progress.

‘Pupils are extremely polite, courteous and well behaved. They are proud of their school and enjoy their learning. They feel safe and well cared for. Relationships are well established and positive.’

The Ofsted inspector said that the school could improve further by improving leaders’ understanding of the impact of their actions to raise the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and ‘providing sufficient challenge for all pupils, particularly the most able’.

Executive headteacher Gavin Hamilton said he was ‘extremely proud’ of the Ofsted result.

He said: ‘I would like to thank all of our amazing children and our dedicated staff for their hard work and commitment. This has helped to make Lady Modiford’s such a great place to learn, work and succeed.

‘There is an African saying that “it takes a village to raise a child”. I think the community and family ethos we engender in our school and the support from parents shone through the report. However, what I am most proud of is the way our children conducted themselves throughout the inspection. They confidently spoke to the inspector and shared their thoughts and feelings about the school.

‘We will work, with focus, as we always do, to address the next steps for the school. We were really pleased that the areas to further improve our school were things we had already identified in our school improvement plans.

‘Coming at the end of our celebration of 300 years of Lady Modiford’s, we can celebrate that the school continues to be good and we are continuing to provide a good quality of education.’

Lady Modiford’s has been celebrating its 300th anniversary this year, with a number of different events. Most recently, the Bishop of Plymouth attended a church service to mark the milestone anniversary.