Head girl Arden and head boy Noah

TEACHERS and pupils at Hugh Myddelton Primary School are celebrating after receiving an “Outstanding” in their recent Ofsted inspection.

This marks the second time the Clerkenwell school in Myddelton Street has achieved the top rating, after inspectors said the school “required improvement” in 2014.

The 2024 report read: “Pupils are respectful and kind towards each other. They truly enjoy their time here. Pupils achieve exceptionally well. Leaders want pupils to learn from their mistakes and celebrate their successes. This is happening in practice every day at the school.”

Head boy Noah, 11, said: “I like the reviews because it really shows that the teachers are nice, and whatever we are doing [in the school council], we’re making an impact on the school and people get to see that.”

Headteacher Sarah Gill said she was excited to share the news, especially since the school underwent “Deep Dives” in Languages, History and English.

“I think it’s an area that a lot of schools would dread if they got the call and said there was a ‘deep dive’ into languages and actually for us, we’ve got so much to show,” Ms Gill said.

Two years ago the school implemented an early years French programme, meaning children are introduced to the language from nursery age. They also offer optional Mandarin classes to pupils.

Head girl Arden, 11, is one of the pupils who takes advantage of the Mandarin classes. “It’s quite difficult to read it but once you get the sounds down it becomes quite easy to say it,” she said.

Ms Gill explained that the school decided to place extra focus on music and languages after they did a survey on children’s extra-curricular activities.

“There’s lots of football, lots of swimming, lots of computing, but we know there’s not much opportunity to do music and languages, and when there are they are really really expensive,” she said.

Now the school offers all children free music lessons and has partnered with Sadler’s Wells to allow pupils to go on theatre trips.