PORTISHEAD'S St Peter’s Primary School has been rated outstanding in a recent Osfted report.

Quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and early years provision were all deemed outstanding by the education specialists.

In other news at the school, a new outdoor reading area was donated by a local business.

Pupils at St Peter’s Primary School in Portishead thanked the team at F H Halliday, a funeral directors with its premises backing on to the school, after the business owners surprised them with a teepee to support the school’s outdoor reading area.

North Somerset Times: St Peter's Primary School's reading area.St Peter's Primary School's reading area. (Image: St Peter's Primary School)

Pupils gathered to celebrate the arrival of the tepee which saw a formal ribbon cutting and headteacher, Catrin Battista declaring the outdoor reading area officially open.

Helen Lawrence, who runs F H Halliday with her husband Glyn, said: “As a local, family run business that has been in Portishead High Street for more than 140 years we are committed to supporting the community we serve.

"It is our pleasure to provide the purpose build teepee for the children to use as an outdoor reading shelter. We hope it will support the school in helping their quest to encourage children to develop a lifelong love of reading.”

Children now have the option to spend break and lunchtimes in the outdoor reading area, set away from some of the more energetic and boisterous playground actIvities.

Mrs Battista said: “On behalf of our whole school community I would like to say a huge thank you to our neighbours, F H Halliday, for their generous support in sponsoring our new outdoor reading area.

North Somerset Times: St Peter's Primary School's staff and students gather in the school's reading area.St Peter's Primary School's staff and students gather in the school's reading area. (Image: St Peter's Primary School)

"At St Peter’s, reading is at the heart of our curriculum because we know that teaching children to read well and instilling in them a love of reading for pleasure, has such a significant impact on their future success.

"Our pupil librarians love recommending exciting new literature and helping other children across the school to choose and read books together.

It is clear the ‘Reading Den’ is going to become a very popular spot on the playground. We are so grateful to Halliday’s for being such kind community partners.” 

As a result of the instant popularity of the tepee, the school hopes to add more outdoor reading dens in the future.