MEAVY primary staff and pupils jumped for joy last week on hearing it had kept its ‘good’ result from Ofsted.

Meavy Church of England Primary School was inspected on September 12 as one of the first schools in the South West to be inspected under Ofsted’s new framework.

In the report published last Thursday, Ofsted’s lead inspector highlighted that the school’s strength was in reading and added that the school continues to ‘provide a good quality of education’.

‘Teachers are ambitious in their expectations of the sounds and words that children should be able to read by the end of each term,’ the report said. ‘Many children secure the necessary reading skills early. Pupils who are not confident readers receive effective extra help, so they are not left behind.’

The inspecter also added that Meavy school was the ‘hub of the community’.

‘Parents and staff are united in ensuring that pupils get the best possible start in life. The strong relationships between school and home are clearly having a positive impact on pupils’ learning.

‘During the inspection, we spoke to many pupils. Pupils were keen to tell inspectors how the trips and visits they go on bring learning alive.’

The school has 98 children and is part of the West Dartmoor Federation, which comprises Meavy and Lady Modiford’s Church of England Primary School. Lady Modiford’s was inspected in July 2019 under the previous Ofsted framework and was judged ‘good’ in all aspects.

Executive headteacher for the federation Gavin Hamilton said: ‘We got a “good” which we are really proud of and what was nice was how our children had a good account of them, especially for reading.

‘One of the inspectors referred to us as “the Meavy family”. We are all proud of what we have achieved but the children especially. We are a small school but we can prove that we provide a good level of education.’