AVILLAGE primary school has emerged from the upheaval of re-organisation with a clean sweep of five grade one ratings.Inspectors gave Martham Primary and Nursery School top marks for overall effectiveness, achievement and standards, personal development and well-being, quality of provision and leadership and management.

AVILLAGE primary school has emerged from the upheaval of re-organisation with a clean sweep of five grade one ratings.

Inspectors gave Martham Primary and Nursery School top marks for overall effectiveness, achievement and standards, personal development and well-being, quality of provision and leadership and management.

Headteacher John Dye stressed they were among only a handful of Norfolk schools to have achieved top marks - and it was even more of an achievement

for one that had only

been in existence for 10 months.

With everyone now housed on one site following improvements costing £750,000 to the former middle school, Mr Dye paid tribute to the hard work of governors and staff in effecting such a smooth transition.

He singled out stability of staff as an important ingredient in their

success.

“We don't have a high staff turnover and we even have five members of staff who I can remember teaching here,” he said.

Mr Dye said parents were fully supportive of the school's old-fashioned values.

“We like homework, uniform and interaction with parents. It all serves to set standards and helps us achieve above average results for Sats.

“We are a happy school with mutual respect between adults and children,” he added.

Mr Dye said the most gratifying part of the report were the humbling comments from parents praising the “immense” effort to provide a rounded education and the “huge” commitment from all staff.

He added: “Outstanding does not mean perfect. We have still got a lot of

things we can improve to make the school even better.”