Pupils and staff at Langdon Primary School are celebrating after being rated good in the latest Ofsted report.

It sees the village school climb out of the inspectorate’s second lowest category – ‘requires improvement’ – after its 2014 judgement.

Head teacher Lynn Paylor Sutton said: “The governors, staff, parents and pupils are delighted with the result, which recognises the hard work we have put in since the last inspection.”

The school was inspected on July 6 and 7 by Shelagh MacDonald.

Mrs Paylor Sutton added: “The report clearly reflects the strong caring ethos of the school as well as recognising the consistently good quality of teaching and learning which impacts positively on all pupils, ensuring they achieve well.

It also recognises how the staff work as a team to deliver the best education to the children they teach.”

The report noted the caring family ethos of the school, with the inspector writing that: “Relationships are warm and underpinned by strong values of care and kindness... every pupil is recognised and respected as an individual.”

Gardening club teacher Sara Seccatore and site manager Ray Turrell were also given special mention with their flower display at the entrance to the school.

Since the last inspection, staff at Langdon have introduced new techniques for teaching writing skills which have had a dramatic impact.

Using group recitation, mapping stories with symbols and acting, children learn a story before changing it and making it their own.

The effect has been so successful that last year two pupils got through to the semi-finals of the BBC Radio 2 500-words short story competition.

The school is now tackling the three areas identified for improvement – helping pupils do better in geography, design technology and a foreign language; being challenged and using their own initiative; and decision-making about their learning.

The Ofsted inspection coincided with the Key Stage 2 SATs results in which Langdon was 30% higher than the national average in reading, writing and mathematics.