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Lostwithiel Primary School's Ofsted inspection report praises behaviour as ‘impeccable’ and commends the school in all its judgments.

“Staff's exceptional care, support and expertise” mean pupils “simply love coming to school.”

So begins a glowing Ofsted report for Lostwithiel Primary School. Amid ongoing national and regional struggles with school attendance since the Covid pandemic, there can surely be no better praise.

Yet the report goes on to highlight a raft of strengths that underpin this success.

The inspectorate’s new-style reports no longer give a summary one-word judgment, like ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’, but it’s clear to see the inspectors loved what they saw when they visited Lostwithiel School in June this year.

The new report judges the school in seven categories: ‘behaviour and attendance’, ‘achievement’, ‘curriculum and teaching’, ‘early years', ‘inclusion’, ‘leadership and governance’, and ‘personal development and wellbeing'.

It gives its top ‘Exceptional’ rating for Attendance and Behaviour – Lostwithiel being one of only 2% of schools nationally to have been awarded this grade. In all other areas the school was judged to be ‘strong’ in what reads as a glowing report card for the school.

The report notes that Lostwithiel’s pupils “typically achieve above the national average in reading, writing and mathematics. Disadvantaged pupils also achieve well.”

It also says that “The school has strengthened the wider curriculum since the last inspection [in May 2022]. It is now an ambitious and broad curriculum across all subjects”.

Crucially, it also praises Lostwithiel School’s teachers, who “expertly support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other barriers.”

“Any child who needs it gets targeted teaching, so no one falls behind,” it notes.

Needless to say, this is a massive success for the school and our whole community. It means children and families are getting an exceptional start to their educational journey regardless of their starting points, and every learner starts secondary school with the best possible experiences and results.

Headteacher Elaine Badger said:

“We are absolutely delighted with the outcome of our inspection – it reflects the hard work and dedication of our staff to provide an exceptional educational experience for our pupils. Our team know that Lostwithiel Primary is a very special place and the inspectors recognised and celebrated this during their time with us. We are incredibly proud.”

The report also singles out “those responsible for governance” as providing “robust challenge and support,” ensuring that “the school moves in the right strategic direction”.

For Lostwithiel School, that is Cornwall Education Learning Trust, or CELT. Responding to the report, the trust’s CEO, Dan Morrow said:

“We couldn’t be prouder of what Lostwithiel School has achieved. This is their success, and it is richly deserved.

“As a trust, CELT exists to support schools to be all that they can be for children, families and communities. So it’s great to see that inspectors recognised our approach is effective, especially the excellent training and development we offer all our teachers through our Centre of Excellence, our focus on wellbeing and our efforts to reduce workload.

“But what makes this kind of success possible is that we don’t tell schools what to do. Instead, we try to provide what they say they need, and we create the space for them to support each other by sharing their strengths.

“Lostwithiel’s team are already sharing theirs with other schools across CELT and well beyond our trust, and this report is a testament to their hard work.”