A PRIMARY school in Pilning is celebrating being recognised for the quality of its work by an education watchdog.

St Peter’s Anglican/Methodist Primary School, which has 205 pupils, was visited by Ofsted on March 8, and was rated “Good” by inspectors.

The result, the same grade as its last inspection in 2013, has been hailed a success by the school which, as noted in the report, has experienced “turbulence” in the leadership team this year, with a long-serving head teacher departing at the end of the last school year, only for the replacement to leave in October.

Having taken the reins as a relatively new face at the school, newly appointed head teacher Rhys Buckley was praised in the report as being “passionate about the quality of education and care that pupils at the school receive” and demonstrating “determination to ensure that the school continues to improve”.

The report noted that Mr Buckley was “ably supported” by the staff who shared the “vision for the school to become the very best”, with senior leaders and governors having “a clear knowledge and understanding of the school’s strengths and are fully aware of what needs to improve”.

A majority of parents were cited as being “extremely happy with the quality of education and care that their children receive”.

Steps suggested for the school to continue to improve included making further work in reading and writing so that pupils, especially the middle-attaining boys, make the best possible progress, and that the leadership shares the good practice at the school to improve the quality of teaching and learning further.

Mr Buckley said: “We are absolutely delighted with the report and everything in it. It has reflected really positively on the school and was the outcome we felt we deserved as it shows what we are doing.

“The biggest job we had was making sure the school was in a really good place at the start of the school year, and staff worked really hard to make sure that didn’t change. I think we are even in a better place now.”

He added: “I am extremely fortunate to have really talented staff who come in every day to make sure the children are receiving the best possible education.

“Then there is the school community, the children and the parents, who are a really supportive group. They make sure there is a really caring and loyal network around the school. It is really good to see.”