A VILLAGE school in West Devon is celebrating after achieving the prestigious Investor in People award status recently.
Milton Abbot School, already praised by Ofsted inspectors for its ?very good teaching?, invested in the development needs of staff to raise the achievements of pupils.
It has created a ?warm and welcoming environment? according to the Learning and Skills Council, which supported the school through its programme to achieve the Investors in People Award.
Peter Jones, headteacher at Milton Abbot, said: ?We are delighted to be recognised as an Investor in People.
?We all feel that the programme has been a tremendous benefit to the school. It has made us think more carefully about staff development and how it is linked with school improvement.?
Numerous in-house and external training opportunities have been organised for staff at the school, including coaching, mentoring, management training, literacy and numeracy training, special education needs, co-ordination and foundation degree programmes for teaching assistants.
Investor in People assessor Wendy Wyatt said: ?This is a happy school with strong and supportive teamwork. The strength of working relationships between teachers and teaching assistants is particularly strong.
?There is great mutual respect and teachers value their teaching assistants enormously.?
Milton Abbot School has seen a steep rise in pupil numbers during the last ten years, from just 30 in 1991 to nearly 120 this year.
During this time, Mr Jones has overseen two extension programmes and an expansion of the grounds including a superb new garden.