A RURAL primary school has kicked off the new school year in style with a 'good' rating from Ofsted.

Inspectors visited Kingstone & Thruxton in July and gave the rating in all areas, as well as overall. At the last inspection it was rated as 'requires improvement'.

The head of school Elissa Vigus, who has led it for the past three years, is delighted that the good work of the staff has been rewarded and officially recognised.

She said: "We have believed the school to be 'good' for some time now, but have had to wait patiently for a visit from Ofsted to make it official; I couldn’t be more pleased for all the staff, knowing how hard everyone works here to make it the special school it is."

In their report, inspectors recognised the impact of the head teacher who, they said, 'provides the school with strong and effective leadership.’

The report said: "Since the last inspection, she has ensured that the quality of teaching and learning has improved rapidly. Consequently, pupils are making good progress as they move through the school.

"The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good. Pupils are making at least good progress from their starting points in all subjects."

The inspectors went on to report that ‘there is a culture and ethos of keeping pupils safe and secure, with staff well trained in safeguarding procedures'.

They noted that: "The federation with Kingstone High School is of great benefit to the school in sharing management expertise, teachers and facilities."

"Pupils behave well. They enjoy school and develop positive attitudes to learning. In the early years, children make good progress. This is because teachers know the children very well and plan challenging and enjoyable work that meets children’s specific needs."

To improve further, inspectors said the school should strengthen the role, impact and accountability of middle leaders to further improve the quality of teaching and pupil progress, and refine school improvement action plans by setting targets that are specific, time-related and measurable and by monitoring and evaluating the impact of actions more precisely.

It added that the school should ensure it complies with government guidance on what academies should publish about the proposed spend and rationale for the pupil premium and the primary physical education (PE) and sport premium.