THE Holme Church of England Primary School in Headley has been praised for its “values and highly inclusive nature” in a statutory inspection which judged the academy to be “good”.

A church schools’ inspector spoke of the school’s “strong, caring relationships” and “deeply embedded values” after a day-long Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) inspection in April.

The report also acknowledged the school’s “swift and significant progress” since its previous inspection, which had taken place prior to it becoming an academy within the Diocese of Guildford’s Good Shepherd Trust and the arrival of headteacher Ruth Worswick in September 2014.

The academy status under the trust and the arrival of the new headteacher followed a rocky period for the school, which saw the previous headteacher resign and negative feedback from Ofsted, which ultimately placed the school in special measures.

An Ofsted report last year said the school “requires improvement”, highlighting the quality of teaching, achievement of pupils and leadership and management as needing the most work.

However, the report did praise the headteacher because she had “established a united team and won the trust of staff, parents, carers and pupils”. It also scored the behaviour and early years provision as “good”.

So staff were keen to celebrate this latest praise as another step in the right direction, following what had been a turbulent time for the school.

The SIAMS inspector quoted a pupil as saying the academy’s values “help you to make the right choices in life” and spoke of how good relationships “underpin all aspects” of the school’s work.

“We are thrilled that the report has identified the caring and values-driven nature of our school,” Ms Worswick said.

“Being inclusive is central to our identity - everyone is valued and we want everyone to have a sense of who they are, how they fit into this world and what they can contribute at The Holme.”

Last term the school held a Disability Awareness Week and invited a Royal Navy veteran, from Portsmouth’s Queen Alexa-ndra Hospital’s Project Youth Force, which aims to inspire young people to set goals and be resilient.

Richard Hunt, who lost his leg following an injury and post-operative infection, spent two days with pupils sharing his story of how the amputation had impacted on his hopes and dreams, and how he had overcome adversity and now takes part in mental and physical challenges such as skydiving and bungee jumping.

Pupils reflected on disability and undertook workshop challenges that forced them to “dig deep and show determination”.

The week also included reading stories about disability, meeting disabled siblings of pupils and trying out activities as if staff and pupils were disabled.

Pupils will also take part in a Paralympic themed event later this term.

Ms Worswick added: “Richard’s visit was inspirational for staff and children alike, deepening our understanding of disability and also of ourselves.

“It reflects our desire to be a school where children not only grow academically but also spiritually, socially and culturally.

“As a Christian school we teach the values of empathy and understanding, and the week truly helped us put those values into practice.

“The SIAMS report reinforced our ideas about how we can continue to develop our Christian identity and we look forward to working on those in the future.”

The principal objective of the SIAMS inspection is to evaluate the “distinctiveness and effectiveness” of the school and provides a process for evaluating the extent to which church schools are “distinctively and recognisably Christian institutions”.