STAFF and pupils at a Malvern primary school are celebrating a successful Ofsted inspection.

A team of three inspectors spent two days at Great Malvern Primary School, in Lydes Road, and rated it as “good” in all four key categories – quality of teaching, pupils’ achievement, behaviour and safety and leadership and management.

Lead inspector Denise Morris praised the school’s leaders and governing body for having “a very clear vision for improving pupils’ education” and said high-quality training put in place for staff was already bringing marked improvements.

She said the quality of teaching was good across the school, some of it outstanding.

“Teachers are skilled at questioning and extending pupils’ knowledge.

“They plan and manage lessons well, ensuring that pupils make the best possible use of time,” she said.

She said a previous history of poor attendance had been tackled and observed that pupils are “really proud of their school”.

Pupils make the best progress in reading but writing, though good, is not as strong.

This, and the fact that some governors are still new to their role, were given as the reasons for the school not yet rating as “outstanding”.

Headteacher Paul Jackson- Read said he was delighted with the report.

“This is a tremendous achievement by everyone connected to the school, especially as the inspection was carried out under a new inspection framework that raised the bar in many areas,” he said.

“At the end of the day it is the quality of teaching that matters and this inspection proves we have a fabulous teaching team.

“As with all inspections we were given a few areas to work on and these were no surprise to us as both areas had previously been identified by the school and flagged up to the inspection team.

“Academy status has helped with this move forward and the conversion has certainly brought us benefits, but it is the hard work of staff, governors, volunteers and the support of parents that has brought this success.”