CHILDREN and staff of Timberscombe Church of England First School are celebrating after Government education inspectors heaped praise on a school where pupils ‘arrive brimming with enthusiasm for the day ahead’.

The school was visited by an Ofsted team last summer which has just published its rating of the school overall as ‘Good’, with personal development rated ‘outstanding’.

Timberscombe, which caters for children aged four to nine years and has an attached teacher-led pre-school, underwent a full two-day inspection led by inspector Sarah Favager-Dalton.

The school was rated ‘Good’ in four of the other five inspection areas and Ms Favager-Dalton said: “Leaders and staff are ambitious for all pupils and aim to give them strong foundations to build on.

“Pupils are well prepared to continue their learning when they move on to their next schools.”

She said the curriculum was ambitious and broad and in some cases exceeded the national curriculum, providing pupils with a strong foundation in all subjects.

The inspectors praised the children and stated: “Pupils embody the school rules of ‘kind hearts, hands, and words’.

“They learn how to exemplify these in their daily actions.

“Pupils treat one another with kindness.”

Head of school Angela Hall was delighted with the Ofsted outcome.

Mrs Hall said: “This result is reflective of the hard work of the staff, enthusiasm of the children, and support of our families.

“We aim to give our children the best start in life and a firm foundation to build on for the future.

“The ‘outstanding’ result in personal development reflects our hopes and dreams for the children in our care.”

Executive head teacher Naomi Philp, of the Moorland Foundation, said she was ‘thrilled’ Ofsted had recognised the excellent efforts of the leadership, staff, and pupils.

Mrs Philp said: “To get an outstanding category for personal development was a real credit to the commitment of Mrs Hall and the whole school and federation team to ensure that at our little rural school our children get the absolute best learning experiences possible to give them the absolute best start in life that they all deserve.

“The Moorland Federation of schools are committed to working collaboratively to secure the absolute best education possible for every child.”