THERE were celebrations on all fronts at Camelsdale Primary School after it retained its ‘good’ rating following an Ofsted inspection over two days last month.

Inspectors commented: “Pupils are making increasingly strong progress in reading, writing and mathematics” and noted “the curriculum is varied and interesting.”

Ofsted also reported that pupils “behave well, socialise well together and become increasingly confident”. In a joint statement, headteacher Sarah Palmer, and chair of governors Paul Branch said: “We are delighted that once again Camelsdale is recognised as offering a good standard of education to the families it serves.

“The whole school community works very hard to maintain this standard year on year. Well done and thank you to everyone who makes this happen. Visits to the school are always welcome.”

The children celebrated their Ofsted success with a whole school Maths Week at the start of term, when The Happy Puzzle Company set a series of ‘Coding Box’ maths challenges for every child to tackle.

The focus was on using maths in daily life and pupils were challenged to complete an A-Z of activities that used maths – coming up with some ingenious answers in the process.

During the week, the school also welcomed many other visitors.

Parents led sessions to show how they use maths in their workplaces, teachers from other schools held maths investigations and workshops, and pupils used their maths skills in cooking lessons and outdoor maths trails.

Sharing the knowledge, juniors played board games with infant classes and had their own lessons on the basics of bridge.

Everyone enjoyed the ‘Super Veg’ competition, in which pupils were challenged to find the longest carrot, fattest brussel sprout and heaviest potato.

There was further excitement at Camelsdale, when the school leavers from Year 6 returned to receive their arts ‘Discover’ award from Trinity College for the work they had done for their arts log journals.

The work was accessed over a period of time and had proved to be of a very high standard. Arts Society of Haslemere chairman Alison Marston, and the group’s community organiser Isabelle Cole, presented the certificates.

Mrs Marston said: “Some of the children’s iconic art has already been displayed by the arts society as part of a display in Haslemere Museum and we hope to sponsor another exhibition by Camelsdale School a little later in the year.”