
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
32 | COLEGRAVE PRIMARY SCHOOL
Iconsidered this money well spent –
we were now immediately identifiable,
and pupils were proud to wear
Colegrave’s colours. Since pride is a
catalyst for high standards, a greater
emphasis was placed on the aesthetics
of our learning environment – phase
by phase, classrooms were remodelled
and high-quality, attractive communal
and class displays showcased the best
of what our pupils could achieve.
Crucially, a relaunched website and a
strong social media presence enabled
us to tell our story in a way that we
hadn’t before – and at the heart of
our story lies a rich and engaging
curriculum.
A creative curriculum
Attainment and progress in the core
subjects have always been a school
priority. For this reason, English, maths
and science are led by members of the
senior leadership team, who, through
effective training, team-teaching and
monitoring, have successfully raised
standards in teaching and learning. A
school’s curriculum is so much more
than the core subjects, however, and
we knew that we could never achieve
outstanding if our “afternoons” –
foundation subjects – did not match
up to our “mornings” – maths and
English. Determined to make the
national curriculum work for us,
rather than us work for it, a thematic,
skills-based curriculum was written
and developed with the interests of
our pupils in mind. Traditional topics
such as “The Great Fire of London”
and “The Egyptians” now sit alongside
unique, specially designed topics
such as “Banksy”
– a year 5 art and
science unit based around the elusive
street artist – and
“The Body Shop”,
which sees year 4 pupils become
young entrepreneurs by designing,
making and selling their own soap.
Outcomes such as these provide
a focus for each topic, and so our
children regularly have the opportunity
to hold assemblies, participate in
debates and showcase their work
through exhibitions. Increased parental
engagement has been a rewarding
outcome of these end-of-term events.
Doing right by our pupils
Interwoven throughout our curriculum
is Unicef’s Rights Respecting Schools
Award, the focus on which was
launched two years ago. Academic
success is important, but schools
also have a duty to educate the
whole child. By promoting the
values of respect, dignity and non-
discrimination, the initiative has guided
our pupils to have a strong moral
compass. They are aware of their
rights, and they speak passionately
about injustice where they see it.
During Children in Need Day earlier
this year, I overheard one of our
year 6 pupils say to another, “If one
child does not have access to their
rights, then we have all failed.” It has
been an eventful journey towards
“outstanding”, with many successes
along the way, but nothing has made
me more proud to be head teacher of
our wonderful school than this.
Retaining the
right person in
the right role
has been
fundamental
to our success
“
“
We aim for the stars and
nothing less