THE Oxford Mail has not been the only visitor to North Kidlington Primary School recently.

Later this week, Ofsted inspectors will publish their latest report into the school, upgrading it from “satisfactory” to “good”, and praising “rapid progress” and “very strong leadership” at the 248-pupil school.

The standards watchdog praised headteacher Ann Battersby for driving up standards, and predicted that improvement would continue.

It said: “Perhaps the most significant of these is the excellent care, guidance and support offered to each pupil.

“One of the key outcomes from this is that pupils feel extremely safe.

“They are exceptionally confident about approaching adults if they have a problem and are very good at supporting each other. The care provided is indicative of the excellent attention given to equality of opportunity.

“Every member of the school community is equally valued and differences are celebrated regularly.”

The report added: “There is a very strong sense of teamwork in the school between all staff and governors.

“This stems from the determination of the headteacher to drive improvement, which has been communicated very well so that the vision is shared.”

For Mrs Battersby, the inspectors’ report was confirmation that her three-and-a-half years of work had made a real difference.

She said: “We know that if children are safe, cared for and well-supported, then they start to thrive.

“In three years we have raised expectations for every child to be the best that they can be.

“We have totally transformed the curriculum to ensure children are learning from first hand experiences.

“They are learning through music, art, design. All of this particularly helps to enhance their language work, and we have seen more depth in their writing.”

The school has recently finished a project with arts charity Creative Junction to fire the youngsters’ imaginations.

Professional artists came in to work with pupils on creating props so that huge photographs could be created using computer software, apparently showing the children in the most unexpected of settings.

The final results showed pupils towering over their school as giants, flying dragons through clouds and hot air balloons over the North Pole, manning cannons at the Battle of Bosworth Field and sailing on the Mary Rose.

Last week, Mrs Battersby was invited to a conference at London’s City Hall to tell other teachers about the benefits of the project.

She said children also have more ‘ownership’ of the curriculum than ever before. They are now less passive, and have more of an active role in deciding what topics to study.