THERE has been a great start to 2015 for staff, governors and children of Meavy Primary School, who are celebrating after receiving Ofsted ratings of 'good' with 'outstanding' behaviour shown by the children.

Ofsted inspectors visited the school in December and gave a grade two of good for its overall effectiveness and found the behaviour and safety of its pupils were 'outstanding', giving that section a grade one.

The inspectors observed learning in seven lessons and listened to pupils read and looked at their work. As well as meeting with governors, the executive headteacher, the senior teacher and subject leaders, the inspectors also met with pupils to talk about their learning.

School leaders were found to have successfully raised the quality of teaching to ensure pupils achieve well as they move through school.

They found subject leaders were highly competent, that governors knew the school very well and the inspectors said the teachers had 'high expectations and ask questions which deepen pupils' understanding'.

Inspectors said: 'The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils relish learning and this has a strong impact on the progress they make. The school's work to keep pupils safe is highly effective.'

Gavin Hamilton, executive headteacher of the West Dartmoor Federation of Meavy Primary School and Lady Modiford's in Walkhampton, said: 'We are delighted at the inspection findings from Meavy's Ofsted in December.

'It reflects the hard work of all the school community from teachers, support staff, governors and parents. We are also extremely proud of the children whose behaviour was judged to be "outstanding" — they are a credit to all of us.'

Dr Jenny Sharp, chair of governors, said: 'As chair of governors, I am absolutely delighted with the result of the Ofsted inspection.

'All the staff at Meavy School work extremely hard with just one aim: to provide the best possible experience for the children.

'The report highlighted this hard work which has resulted in the good leadership and management throughout the whole school, the good teaching and achievement of the pupils and  the outstanding behaviour and safety of the pupils.

'We are very lucky to have a dedicated governing body who are able to do what is an increasingly difficult, onerous and responsible job as volunteers. It was the work of the whole team that has led to this judgement.

'We will not be resting on our laurels but will continue to work as hard as possible to move Meavy to an outstanding school in all areas.'

Areas where the inspectors said the school could improve further to achieve an 'outstanding' rating, included increasing 'opportunities for pupils to write more in their subjects to make progress in their writing' and to ensure 'the good practice in effective written guidance from marking seen in some parts of the school is consistent in all subjects and year groups so that pupils understand how to make more rapid progress and raise their standards'.