YOUNGSTERS at Bere Alston Primary have produced such outstanding results in maths and English the school has been catapulted to the top of the educational league.

Devon's oldest primary school is one of the best in the country, according to Government inspectors.

An Ofsted report said the youngsters' results were in the top five per cent of the country for maths and English, and the entire report was littered with 'excellents', 'outstandings', As and A*s.

Children starting at the school, which first opened in 1665, had 'attainment levels' often below average, but by the time they moved into secondary education most of them were well above the standards expected nationally.

Headteacher Kim Wild said: 'It's all down to the teamwork and the hardworking staff, including teachers, classroom assistants — everybody who works in the school, and a strong partnership with the parents — it's definitely a team effort.'

Miss Wild said many parents continued to play a role even after their children had moved on, and help and support for the children and staff was also drawn from throughout the community.

Ofsted suggested the school could be further improved in Key Stage 1 and Richard Leithall, chairman of the governors, said: 'The inspectors did spot our computers have become largely obsolete, but we already have a project underway which has given us a new IT classroom and the first batch of new Internet-ready PCs, due to arrive soon.'

The school will also be taking new steps to help prepare pupils for life in multicultural Britain.

'It's an important area we have to address,' said Miss Wild. 'We will be forming links via the Internet with other schools, perhaps in Birmingham.'

Parents were generally very happy with the school, but many told the inspectors they would like to see class sizes reduced and, now literacy and numeracy strategies were well established, other subjects brought back into focus.

Miss Wild promised the school would continue the hard work to maintain the excellence they had already achieved and continue striving to improve.

'We are always improving,' she said. 'The school never stops.'