The headteacher of Abbots Langley School is striving to make the school "outstanding" after receiving a "good" rating from the education watchdog.

Roger Billing, headteacher at Abbots Langley School, said he wants to make the Parsonage Close school an "outstanding school for our children and our families" after Ofsted rated the school as "good" following a two-day inspection in May.

Inspectors said "the school is regarded highly by its families who see it as an important part of the local community" and Mr Billing believes this is key to the success of the school.

He said: "I think one of the things that was talked about in the Ofsted report was the ‘community feel’ of the school and this is quite key to what we are trying to do.

"The teachers and the teaching assistants have just worked so hard on what they all give to the children and what they provide for the children."

The education watchdog added in their report that "teaching is consistently good and sometimes outstanding" and "this helps lay the foundations for lifelong learning.

"Teachers are clear about what they want pupils to learn. Teachers and their assistants alike develop very positive working relationships with the pupils."

The report also highlighted that "improving pupils’ writing skills remains an ongoing focus for the school."

The headteacher, who has been in charge of the school for just under two years, added: "In one of the lessons, there was a distinct cry of ‘yes’ when the teacher announced that they were going to do writing work and I think that just summarises where we are as a school right now."   

However, inspectors highlighted that despite teachers providing pupils with good oral feedback on their work, not all written feedback is specific enough to explain how pupils can improve.

On the improvements suggested by Ofsted, Mr Billing said: "They were all things we are already working on, so they didn’t make any suggestions that really surprised us.

"It’s like we are on that journey to get there [the Outstanding rating]."

Ofsted believe that the school is taking steps to prevent different forms of bullying and school records indicate that bullying at the Parsonage Close school is rare.

Inspectors visited the school between 8 and 9 May.

But the report did conclude that "some teaching does not always set consistently high challenges for the more-able pupils to help them accelerate their progress."