A MEON Valley school has maintained its Ofsted rating of ‘good’ despite more than half of its teachers being new this school year.

Wickham CE Primary School retained its good rating following a one-day inspection.

The lead inspector spent time observing teaching in several classrooms and met with leaders, staff and governors, as well as speaking to children about their experiences of school.

The report said head teacher Helen Castle had a calm and purposeful leadership which has created a school where there is a real community feel.

She was also said to have an ambitious vision for the school and a strong capacity to drive further improvement.

Ofsted believes that areas for improvement in the school following its previous inspection in December 2012 have been acted upon effectively.

The teaching of writing has improved through the good teaching of phonics in Key Stage 1 and improving spelling skills. The quality of teaching has also improved since the last Ofsted.

Mrs Castle said: “This is a fantastic outcome for our school to have achieved and we are very proud that we have maintained our good status despite 50 percent of the teachers being new to the school in September.

“It recognises the hard work that everyone puts in to making Wickham CE Primary a place where children feel safe to come and enjoy learning.”