STAFF and students at a Blunsdon school are celebrating a year of impressive improvement.

Ofsted inspectors placed Bridlewood Primary School in special measures last August.

They were then astounded when the school improved enough to be taken out of these measures just six months later.

Since then, the school has continued to go from strength to strength.

Headteacher Vicky Sammon joined the school just before the poor Ofsted inspection in 2017 and has overseen the school's remarkable progress.

She said: "We were really relieved, satisfied and proud when we were taken out of special measures so quickly.

"It’s been a real team effort.

"The school had a big knock and there had been a lot of instability before I arrived.

"I worked hard with a robust school development plan for months.

"When Ofsted returned, they gave good judgements for early years learning, behaviour, and leadership.

"The staff have embraced all the changes and I’m really proud of all of them.

"We’ve gone from well-below education standards to in-line with the rest of the country, and even above the national average in some cases.

"Key Stage 2 maths and reading results have increased to above the national average, from 53 per cent to 82 per cent.

"Key Stage 1's results have also been above this average.

"KS2 writing improved by 10 per cent and is now at 77 per cent."

John Sutherland is one of the governors at Bridlewood Primary.

He said: “I started helping out in November and to turn the school around so quickly is phenomenal.

"It’s something we should be proud of, and Ofsted said it was remarkable, too.

"The governors put together a five-year improvement plan to improve the quality of teaching and outcomes for pupils."

The school now has an Ofsted rating of 'Requires Improvement',.

The staff and governors do indeed intend to carry on improving and are aiming for the highest possible Ofsted rating.

Vicky added: "It’s good to see the successful outcomes of all the programs we’ve put in.

"We'll be continuing our journey."

John added: "The improvement has been dramatic and I’ve been really impressed.

"Our plan is to become an Outstanding school.

"We have massive steps to take before we get to that level.

"However, I think we can do it under our top-quality headteacher's wonderful leadership.

"She’s been instrumental in making this change happen."