It is uncommon for a school to achieve the top outstanding' grade in the dreaded Ofsted inspection but it is even rarer to do so with top marks in every category - a feat achieved by St Agatha's Catholic Primary School last month.

The school in St Agatha's Drive, Kingston, has boasted excellent Ofsted results from their past few inspections but went a stage better when visited in February, despite being given just two days notice before the inspectors descended.

Headteacher Patrick Monk, who has presided over St Agatha's since 1990, has watched the school more than double in size in his tenure and praised the work of everyone at the school in addressing the challenges such a change provides.

He said: "It's a spectacular result but we have worked hard - teachers, associate staff and parents alike - to help build this school up.

"The school's become more and more popular over time, going from 185 pupils when I started to 463 as of this January, and I guess the main thing is trying to keep standards and expectations high and we've clearly done that."

Mr Monk said that the school's switch to two-form entry a few years ago allowed the boost in pupil numbers and has also meant increased organisation needs for members of staff.

He said: "We've got something in the region of 55 staff now so it's quite a large operation.

"If you think of a company with 55 members of staff it takes some organising so making sure everything works well within the school is key."

Inspectors noted that the school exceeded national averages for year two pupils reaching the higher levels of reading, writing and mathematics last year, as well as for year six pupils in English, mathematics and science.

Mr Monk was keen to stress, however, that providing the pupils with a safe and welcoming environment to work in and helping them gain confidence in their abilities was just as vital as academic statistics.

He said: "One of the things we pride ourselves on is pastoral care and I'm a great believer in raising children's self esteem.

"We encourage children not to worry about making mistakes because it's all part of the learning process, and we try to give them confidence in public speaking by letting them take part in assemblies and things.

"Being literate and numerate is so important and allows you to make life choices but once you're in a job no one cares if you are PhD educated or whatever, they want to know that you can communicate and work with other people and our children are really encouraged to do that."

Rather than rest on its laurels, the school has big plans for the future, including a set of building projects to allow pupils to make the most of their indoor and outdoor environments.

Mr Monk said: "Our playground's quite small so we're looking to extend that on to some of our fields and we're also thinking about creating a cafeteria style building for the children.

"We're also looking to add new facilities for drama and perhaps a big art room for design and technology and more messy things so there's plenty to keep me busy for a few more years yet."