Lavenham Community Primary School, near Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, is found by Ofsted to have maintained standards

A school in a picturesque Suffolk village has been praised by Ofsted for continuing to offer a high standard of education.

Lavenham Community Primary School, near Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, received an ungraded inspection by the education watchdog on December 18 and was found to have taken ‘effective action to maintain the standards identified’ previously.

A full Ofsted inspection in 2019 rated the school, which has 117 pupils on roll, as ‘good’ in every area.

Following the latest inspection, headteacher Rory Michael said he was pleased that the Ofsted inspectors recognised that 'a love of learning permeates the school', 'classrooms are calm and purposeful' and 'behaviour in class and around school is excellent'.

“We could not be more with their view of our school,” he added.

The Ofsted report recognised that pupils make a strong start in early years, the school has an ‘ambitious’ curriculum, and makes successful adaptations to the curriculum for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The report said: “Pupils feel happy and safe at Lavenham Primary. They are enthusiastic about school and attend well. Pupils know that if they ever feel worried, they have adults who care for them and will listen.

“A love of learning permeates the school. Pupils talk confidently and enthusiastically about different things they have learned. Pupils typically achieve well across the curriculum.”

It added: “Pupils are confident, happy to participate in learning and extremely polite to adults and visitors.”

In further praise, the inspectors said at breaktimes pupils socialise well together, they have an ‘active and valued’ voice at this school and they develop strong communication and leadership skills through thoughtfully-planned opportunities, such as weekly ‘pupil voice’ assemblies.

To improve further, Ofsted said the school should consistently implement the curriculum as intended to ensure pupils develop a depth of understanding across all areas of the curriculum.

And it needs to further review its approach to delivering the PSHE (personal, social and health education) curriculum to ensure it consistently equips pupils for life in modern Britain.