A MID Devon primary has been named as one of the best schools in the country after being rated as outstanding across the board.

The Duchy School at Bradninch has been judged as outstanding by independent education inspectors in all five key areas of its work.

They say the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement is outstanding.

The leadership and management, behaviour and safety of pupils and the Early Years provision are also judged to be outstanding.

Inspectors from the school standards watchdog, Ofsted, say this means the school’s overall effectiveness is outstanding – less than 20 per cent of schools ever achieve this top rating.

The inspectors’ report concludes: “All groups of pupils achieve outstandingly well.

“The most able pupils, disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs all make rapid and excellent progress.

“Children in Early Years make outstanding progress in response to high-quality teaching.

“There is outstanding leadership and management. The head of school is supported very well by all staff who are enthusiastic about driving the school forwards.”

When it was last inspected, the Duchy School was rated as good - and in 2013 the school became an academy and is part of the Primary Academies Trust, which consists of eight Devon schools.

Two Ofsted inspectors spent two days at the Duchy last month and their report has just been published.

Head teacher Claire Baillie said: “This has been a real team effort and everyone has played their part in enabling us to achieve this outstanding judgement.

“We have an excellent team of teachers and learning support assistants who work extremely hard to enable pupils to achieve at the highest levels in a supportive and creative learning environment.

“We are all committed to ensuring the children receive a wide range of experiences to encourage them to become self-motivated and self-disciplined lifelong learners.

“The children at The Duchy School are fantastic.

“They are such a delight to teach - they are so engaged with their learning and have such a positive approach to everything they do.

“We are all immensely proud of their achievements.

“We encourage and welcome support from parents and helpers and it is this partnership which helps to create a successful and thriving community.”

PAT chief executive, Gary Chown, said: “Under Mrs Baillie’s leadership, the school has improved considerably over the past two years. It is heartening that the inspectors recognised the work that PAT is able to do in inspiring success and encouraging collaboration across schools to the benefit of all our children.”

Lead inspector John Laver said: “The head (Claire Baillie) has improved the school considerably over the past two years.”