TWO Tavistock schools are celebrating awards in recognition of the training and development of their staff.

Tavistock College and the town's St Rumon's School are both on the rostrum in the latest batch of Investor in People awards made by Prosper's Business Link service.

Prosper said Tavistock College's diverse curriculum had become the envy of others.

The commitment to training and developing staff provided them with the support and encouragement needed to help students reach their academic potential.

Vice-principal Colin Campbell said the college was delighted to be recognised as an Investor In People.

The programme had worked extremely well and enabled the school to examine its services and improve them.

'This is benefiting everyone — our staff, students, governors and parents, and not least the community itself,' he said.

Investor in People assessor Stuart Sherring said: 'The college is quite fascinating in many ways with the diversity of curriculum, the international perspective through languages, exchanges and the broader curriculum and the village community.

There is a real dynamic of personal and collective development.'

St Rumon's, described as 'nationally outstanding' by Ofsted inspectors, has been clocking up the awards recently.

Headteacher Mags Long, who won a national award herself for leadership last year, said the school was delighted to be recognised as an Investor in People.

'We are committed to providing our pupils with the best possible start in the education journey and that begins and ends with the investment we make in the development of our staff.'

There are 16 members of staff at the school, caring for 150 pupils ranging in age from four to seven.

The school was also praised by former chief inspector of schools Chris Woodhead after he visited Tavistock last year.

He said: 'This is one of the best infant schools in the country. The children are happy here and make remarkable progress very quickly.'

Investor in People assessor Richard Thorns said: 'Continuous self assessment and improvement both of the individual and the school lie at the heart of its culture.

'Children come to the school on average baseline assessment and leave 100 per cent above the national average for all seven-year-olds — this puts the school in the top five per cent in the country.'