STAFF and students at South Petherton Infants School are jumping for joy after Ofsted labelled it ‘outstanding’.

The inspection body visited the school last month and judged it outstanding across all four areas – achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils, and leadership and management.

Head teacher Lisa Farley, who joined six years ago, said the secret to the school’s success was teamwork.

She told the News: “I am really proud and thrilled but what we do very well is everyone works together as a team.

“Everyone is completely committed to ensuring all the children achieve their best and leave our school as independent children who are eager to learn and want to learn more.

“We knew that we had elements of outstanding practice and we knew that we were moving in the right direction.”

The latest inspection represents a significant improvement for the school, rated ‘good’ in its previous inspection.

Mrs Farley said despite the success of the Ofsted inspection, the school will continue to strive for improvements.

She added: “Outstanding does not equal perfection and we have all said that as staff so we will always be looking at things to work on.”

Yeovil MP David Laws congratulated the 100 pupils and 22 staff at the school.

He said: “I am absolutely delighted for everybody connected with South Petherton Infants School. This fantastic OFSTED report is a testament to the hard work and dedication of head teacher Lisa Farley and her team.”

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