PRAISE has been heaped on to an Alveston primary school after receiving a glowing Ofsted report.

St Helen’s Primary School was given a ‘good’ rating in every aspect of the report which highlighted the school’s “rapid progress” since the appointment of the school’s new headteacher Andy Spens.

The latest report shows a dramatic upturn in the learning experience for the school’s 194 pupils with them now making “faster progress than they did at the time of the last inspection”.

Inspectors also praised the school’s pupils for their “good behaviour” and for working keenly lessons and for being proud of their efforts.

Headteacher Andy Spens said: “We’re really proud that St Helen’s has been recognised by Ofsted as a ‘good’ school in every area of the recent inspection and this is very much a result of the dedication and hard work shown by the entire staff team, our caring and enthusiastic children and the excellent support that we receive from parents, governors and the wider community.

“Ofsted recognised the rapid progress made by the school since the last inspection and we are now focussed on continuing to bringing our vision of ‘excellence, enjoyment and achievement together’ into a daily reality for the children.”

“We are pleased that Ofsted observed some of the key changes that we’ve made, for example the huge increase in children now engaging in sport, the broad, rich and challenging curriculum that we have developed and the high expectations that teachers have of children and their work.”

On their visit to the school at the end of January inspectors outlined two issues that meant that the school didn’t reach the top grade of ‘outstanding’.

Firstly, inspectors believed that “many of the systems introduced to improve the provision in 2014 had yet to be felt”.

The inspectors also said that teaching was not yet ‘outstanding’ because “teachers do not have enough chance to learn from the best practice in the school”.

"St Helen's is a school where we aim to learn from each other, whether that be as children or as adults. To be judged 'outstanding', OFSTED said that we need to ensure that the very best teaching practice is shared across the school.

“Plans are already in place to develop more opportunities for teachers and teaching assistants to learn from each other and also from best practice further afield, by partnering with other schools in South Gloucestershire."