Schools succeeding against the odds
LOOKING at their profile, the odds should be stacked up against them.
Nearly 60 per cent of pupils speak a foreign tongue, 40 per cent receive free school meals and 16 per cent require special educational needs.
Above all, this Northampton school serves a deprived area of the town – the Spencer ward.
Yet remarkably, Earl Spencer Primary managed to hit the Government’s floor targets in the school performance tables for 11-year-olds last summer after 65 per cent of its year six pupils secured level four scores or higher in English and maths in the Key Stage 2 exams.
The Government wants most pupils to reach level four by the time they leave primary school.
In 2010, only 38 per cent of 11-year-olds achieved the target and in 2009 the figure was 41 per cent.
However, Earl Spencer Primary, did not just perform well in attainment last May, but staff also managed to move their pupils up two levels in the two subjects between the ages of seven and 11 (another Government measurement of pupil performance).
It has been widely recognised that there is a strong link between achievement and social-economic disadvantage however becoming an effective school in a deprived area may be difficult but as Earl Spencer Primary has proven, not completely impossible.
Headteacher Anne Partridge said: “The children come in with a low base line and that is generally across the board
“That means they may come in not being able to write their own name, count up to five or recognise initial sounds.
“In fact, one of the measures which Ofsted inspectors use when looking at numeracy or literacy is whether a child knows the words to or sounds linked to a nursery rhyme. Then we have the children that come to us in reception socially not being able to share with others.
“As the children have low starting points we have got further to travel than other schools in order for our pupils to catch up.
“If the children stay with us right from the Foundation Stage, they will have a consistency in their education so that by the time they are in year six they have actually caught up.”
Mrs Partridge said the school prided itself on the pupil’s good behaviour and understanding the rules.
By eliminating any discipline issues, teachers could focus more fully on the academic challenge of raising pupil’s attainment.
Even back in 2009 Ofsted had recognised the school had “turned a corner” and the pace of improvement was accelerating.
The inspection watchdog highlighted the rapidly narrowing gap between what pupils should be achieving for their age and what they were currently attaining.
Mrs Partridge said the school improvement has been down to using a number of intervention strategies such as a whole school curriculum.
This means that rather than having different year groups working on alternative topics, all pupils work on the same theme but at a level according to their appropriate to their age group.
Mrs Partridge describes this approach as “hooking” the children into the basics of numeracy and literacy and consolidating what they have learnt year-on-year.
Another approach has been to get the parents more involved in their child’s learning such as through a stay and play session in the morning for those with youngsters from reception to year two.
Meanwhile a new initiative introduced next month will see parents of older pupils being invited to attend a home learning support workshop to reinforce the existing work at school.
Both of these are aimed at breaking the cycle of underachievement and changing parental attitudes to education, particularly if families come from a generation of unemployment, or where having low aspirations is the norm.
Mrs Partridge said: “A lot of our budget goes on human resources so we can have small pupil-staff ratios. As a school, we do a lot of group work to help push up achievement and that puts the focus on areas where it’s needed.
“The culture of the classroom has changed in itself. Years ago, it would have been just one teacher standing in front of a class. Now it’s a teacher and two teaching assistants.”
Earl Spencer Primary will receive £39,040 for the academic year under the Government’s Pupil Premium grant, which provides additional cash for schools with children from low income families.
The figure, calculated by the number of pupils receiving free school meals (FSM) will increase from the current payment of £488 per pupil to £600 in September. It will include any pupils eligible for FSM in the last six years providing more finance for Mrs Partridge’s school.
She said: “It is hugely important to us to have this additional money. We do not have a rich community of parents we can tap into for fund-raising.
“Our parents are very generous indeed but we do not raise thousands of pounds as some schools do.
“We use many additional interventions for our pupils because of their level of need, eg, Relate, Play Therapy etc we can fund through the disadvantage fund. We help parents by paying for anything from school uniform, to trips out, to a place in our dance club after school.
“I think the increase is wonderful it means we can do even more for our pupils.”
Research has also shown that schools with high levels of pupil mobility are at risk of having children underachieving.
When a child transfers between schools, their education is disrupted and this may lead to additional behaviour problems.
Under these challenging circumstances, Vernon Terrace Primary, which is also located in a deprived area of the town, has managed to add value to youngsters’ education.
Last month, it was revealed that Vernon Terrace had the highest score in Northampton for pupils making progress under the Contextual Value Added measurement in the Government’s 2011 primary school performance table.
The school is also being allocated £23,428 under the 2011-12 Pupil Premium payment to help disadvantaged children on its roll.
Headteacher Jackie Lapsa said: “Our pupil mobility is between 30 and 40 per cent which is very high and this is mainly due to families living in temporary accommodation.
“The children leave not because they are dissatisfied with the school but because their families have been given more permanent housing in the town.
“Some of reasons for the mobility is down to the parents being on temporary employment contracts with agencies. Once it has finished, the families relocate to another part of the country to find work. There’s is a reluctance to see the children leave but there is nothing we can do.”
Mrs Lapsa said when a pupil joins the school mid-way through a term, it can present another set of challenges by changing the dynamics of a class.
Another factor the school must consider when a newcomer joins Vernon Terrace is the child’s experience of the education system.
Mrs Lapsa said in some European countries, compulsory schooling begins as late as seven.
To combat the language barrier, staff use visual resources and practical hands-on teaching through trips and pupils experiences to enrich what can be their short concentrated learning.
“At the last count 42 different languages were spoken at the school.
“It’s important for children with no or little English to pick up the language quickly because once they can communicate, they can then start to make progress.
“Our budgets are limited and on a downward spiral so the finance is also becoming a challenge and any extra money will help.
“We use a lot of teaching assistants and extra staff for group work. Our teachers are 100 per cent committed to the school and supporting our pupils regardless of the circumstances.
“For a child to reach level 3a in their maths and English in two years from a low starting point is a tremendous achievement. It’s not the expected level four target the Government wants, but it’s important to us.
“That’s why our value added measure is so high. What we need is an element of common sense.
“It’s just unfortunate the Government and local authority have chosen to use these level four as their floor targets for attainment.”
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Comments
There are 3 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Alastair
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:09 AMCongratulations to Earl Spencer Primary - but why the sniping about NSB? It's oversubscribed only because parents like the kind of education it provides and its ethos. Also - and if critics actually looked at its admissions policy, they'd see that it takes pupils of all abilities.
lady muck
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 02:36 PM362VictoriaRoad...and NSB effectively operate a selection policy. Congratulations to Earl Spencer and Vernon Terrace...our education should be measured by the achievements of the weakest...i
362victoriaroad
Friday, February 3, 2012 at 01:45 PMI came from Kings Heath, not far from here. And I taught for 30 years. Put simply the staff at a school like this have worked harder than most people can imagine to get these results - great credit to the students too! It's schools like these that need to have the kind of money that places like the Northampton School for Boys have been given. A few years ago the head of that school got a knighthood for improving results - something a capable child could have done, given the money that was thrown at the place. Hopefully the grants given will remain in place and increase in future - rather than be decreased because of any continuing improvement the school makes.
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