A primary school is celebrating after going from special measures to ‘Good’ in the eyes of Ofsted inspectors in just three years.

Coupals Primary Academy in Haverhill was judged to be ‘Good’ in all gradings following the recent inspection.

The standard of teaching and pupil behaviour both came in for praise while headteacher David Maguire was described as “instrumental” in the school’s improvement.

Ofsted inspectors also made special reference to the support the school has received since joining the Samuel Ward Academy Trust in January 2015.

Mr Maguire said: “We are absolutely thrilled that the school has been recognised as ‘Good’ by Ofsted. The progress made in the last three years shows the pace in which the school has improved and reflects all the hard work of staff, students and parents in that time.

“I am really pleased that this inspection has found that children in our school get a good quality of education.”

The Ofsted inspection found that pupils were “making quicker and better progress” as a direct result of the quality of education while staff who demonstrate leadership potential are given new responsibilities to further strengthen the capacity in the school.

Mr Maguire had only been acting headteacher for three months when Ofsted carried out their last inspection of the school in May 2014.

He admitted that the priority then was on improving teaching across Coupals and praised the support he and the school had received from the Trust over the last few years.

He added: “Teaching centres on everything. You can’t have good leadership in a school, good results and outcomes, or good behaviour without good teaching.

“Another pleasing thing is that we have gone from a school that needed a lot of support to our teachers now going to other schools within Samuel Ward Academy Trust and providing support. This also shows how far we have come.

“We have also had amazing support from our parents. They have all shown a huge amount of faith in the school and backed us as a team. Hopefully, we have repaid that faith now.”

Tim Coulson, Chief Executive of the Samuel Ward Academy Trust, said: “The report is a great tribute to all at the school. The headteacher, staff, pupils, parents and governors have worked together to develop a school of which the whole community is rightly very proud.

“This is not the end of the journey as Coupals Primary Academy moves to being one of the great schools in Suffolk.”