COMPASSION, love and a clear Christian vision are some of the qualities that make the head of Burton Bradstock Primary School an outstanding church school leader.

Pupils and staff at Burton Bradstock Primary School are celebrating a highly complimentary Church of England Inspection report which has rated the school as good.

Chairman of Governors, Pat Lewis-Badgett, said: “We are delighted that this inspection report recognises the work of all the children and staff in the school as well as the support the school receives from parents, the governors and the local community. The praise here is well deserved.”

The report particularly singles out the leadership of the school and describes the headteacher, Claire Staple, as “a passionate leader who shows elements of outstanding church school leadership”.

It quotes one member of staff as saying that “she embodies all you would want a head of a church school to be”.

The report comments on Mrs Staple’s “strong sense of love and compassion for the children, staff and all members of the school community” and says she has a clear vision “of valuing each child as a child of God who is a unique individual and deserves to flourish”.

As a result of strong leadership from the head and the governing body the report highlights how the Christian ethos of the school has led to its high overall academic achievement of the children as in 2016 the school had 87 per cent of children reaching expected standard in reading, 93 per cent in mathematics and grammar, punctuation and spelling and 73 per cent in writing. These results were well above the national average.

The report says this also means behaviour in the school is good and relationships are a strength of the school with many describing the school as being a “family”.

It also says a high profile is given to ensuring that all members of the school community are valued as individuals and well cared for in line with the school’s values and supportive parents are “unequivocal” in their praise of the school and its staff.

Overall the school is praised for the clearly identified Christian values which underpin the work of the school and the value members of the school community show for collective worship.

To improve further the report suggests the school crystallises their values and sets up a more formal system for monitoring and evaluating collective worship. It also suggests that learners could increase their understanding of the Trinity and the purpose and value of prayer but the inspection report is also clear that the “passionate leadership of the headteacher provides good capacity to drive improvement and become outstanding”.