Double success for ‘inspirational’ primary school
Staff and pupils at All Saints Primary School in Axminster are celebrating another outstanding inspection report just days after they had been named one of the top 200 primary schools in the country.
A new inspection of the Church of England school by diocesan inspectors has pronounced it outstanding.
And to celebrate, the Bishop of Crediton, the Right Revd Nick McKinnel, will visit the school on Wednesday 3 December.
The new inspection follows All Saints being identified in the Sunday Times’ influential Parent Power annual survey as one of the top 200 state primary schools in the country, following an analysis of its academic results in 2014.
The Church of England inspection praised All Saints’ distinctiveness and effectiveness as a church school as outstanding.
Lead inspector Andrew Rickett, who visited Axminster earlier this month, said All Saints was outstanding at meeting the needs of all learners, the leadership and management was outstanding as was the impactive of collective worship on the school community.
The effectiveness of religious education was good and standards in RE were consistently above national expectations.
Mr Rickett said all school leaders were very clear about how they could make All Saints even better.
“This commitment to improvement is inspirational,” he said. “School leaders are rapidly developing their understanding of how explicit Christian values contribute to raising academic standards across the curriculum as well as making a significant contribution to the children’s wellbeing.
“A particular strength of the school is the close partnership with the other church school (Beer) in the federation. A shared ethos means that both schools learn from each other through joint meetings and training.”
Executive headteacher Martin O’Mahony said: “It is a great achievement for the school to receive another outstanding accolade at the same time as a very well-respected newspaper effectively names us as the third highest-achieving primary school in Devon.
“It is a tribute to our staff, governors and parents but, most of all, to the hard work of the children.”
