LOCALLY known as Pandy School, Llanvihangel Crucorney, in Wern Gifford, is perhaps one of Gwent’s smallest with just 54 pupils.

Nestled near the mountains Skirrid, Blorenge and Sugarloaf – after which the school’s three houses are named after – and less than three miles from the English border, the school is beautifully situated.

And it is this rural location which perhaps helps give the primary school such strong community links.

“We are very much a community school,” said head teacher Sherri Davies, who joined the school in 2010.

“We like to involve the community as much as possible.

“We always do our services at St Michael’s, the local church. And we also do community events, like a community coffee morning we did a fortnight ago. We raised £350 for Macmillan and £150 for school funds.”

Parental involvement is also a big feature of the school. Ms Davies said the school’s PTFA – Parents, Teachers and Friends Association – is “small but active”.

She said: “Our parents are very supportive. One of our parents donated a Christmas tree for the hall this year.

“And one parent comes in regularly and helps in the library. She comes in and sets it all up and now comes in every week on a Monday, changing their library books and doing some reading.”

The school also has done workshops with the parents in the past, such as on internet safety.

Llanvihangel Crucorney’s 54 pupils – made up of 19 in foundation phase and 35 in key stage two – clearly enjoy their time at school.

When asked their favourite things about the primary, pupils offered suggestions including: “Everybody is friends with everybody”, “everybody gets along” and “we all mix together”.

Head teacher Ms Davies agrees the small school numbers and mixed classes, some which have five pupils in and other which have 11, does benefit the children.

The school also has Ladybirds, the nursery which takes children from aged two and upwards.

The number of nursery children who move on up to the main school is high, teacher Caroline Miles said.

“We have got fantastic links to the school,” she said.

“The children come here for a morning session and do lovely fun activities. As you can see we have lots of very happy children. A lot of them have siblings at the school.

“It’s great that on one site we have children from two up to aged 11.”

The school is also divided into three houses, each of which have elected house captains, and do weekly house assemblies.

Pupils can also earn house points every week and also have the opportunity to win good as gold awards.

Llanvihangel Crucorney also has its own school council, including an eco-committee, and helps to run charity events.

Pupil Eve Jenkins, chair of the school council, said: “We do all different sorts of things.

“When we raise money we choose what we should spend it on. We also choose things like the school motto, which is caring, helping, understanding, making friends and sharing.”

Charity work – and the practical evidence of the school’s strong motto – is clear from the many events organised.

Recent charity work has included their annual Christmas shoebox appeal while staff, rather than doing a Secret Santa, donate and put together a hamper which they give to a women’s refuge. As well as charity work, the school runs after-school clubs which have proved very popular with pupils – again showing the fondness the children have for their school. On Tuesday evening there is an after-school club for pupils whose parents may be working and then on Wednesday the school runs its most popular club – multi-sports for foundation and key stage two pupils. Out of the 35 children in key stage two, 21 go to the multi-sports club.

On Thursday the school also runs a minecraft club.

This week the school prepares for the festive season with a concert at the local church, a Christmas party complete with games as well as a Christmas jumper day.

It is clear from visiting the school the staff are incredibly delighted and proud with the Estyn report following an inspection in September this year. The report said the school’s current performance and its prospects for improvement are both rated “good”.

Estyn said nearly all pupils make good progress and achieve well, there are good levels of wellbeing, standards of behaviour are good with highly-motivated pupils and the overall quality of teaching is good. The report also said school leadership has a “clear vision” and sense of direction.

Caroline Miles, playgroup leader, said: “The Estyn report means a lot to us as it’s a reflection on ourselves. These things don’t happen by chance, a report like this doesn’t come about by itself.” And it is true the report is a welcome acknowledgement for the school’s staff.

Head teacher Ms Davies said staff were "thrilled to bits" with the report.

She said the challenges ahead are to continue at the same level and keeping the progress and standards they have achieved over the past years. She said: “Our standards have been excellent for the last three years. And we want to make sure the children have a good all-round experience."

“It’s not just education which is a main priority but the whole experience.”