Colegrave Primary School

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Colegrave Primary School's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Colegrave Primary School is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.colegrave.newham.sch.uk

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

30 | COLEGRAVE PRIMARY SCHOOL

Tahreem Shaz-Vennus,

headteacher

All senior leaders and outstanding

practitioners lead by example

It was March 25, 2013, and Tahreem Shaz-Vennus was

nearing the end of her head teacher interview. She had

joined Colegrave Primary School, Stratford, as deputy head

teacher 18 months earlier, during which time the school had

been judged as “good” during its February Ofsted inspection.

But now it had all come down to the chair of governors’ final

question: “Where do you see Colegrave in five years?” Tahreem

replied without hesitation: “Colegrave will be an outstanding

school.” Transport yourself forward five years and the proof

lies in the Ofsted report: “This is an outstanding school. The

inspirational leadership of the head teacher is a key factor in the

significant improvements that the school has made since the

previous inspection.”

The word “journey” is overused when discussing how aspirational outcomes are

achieved from a given starting point, but in our case, no word is more apt. To

move the school from “good” to “outstanding” has been a long and oft-difficult

process of change and development. Supported and challenged in equal measure

by a knowledgeable governing body, this journey began by restructuring the senior

leadership team. I needed individuals who shared my ambition, who could lead by

example and who believed that “good” wasn’t good enough for our pupils. Why

shouldn’t our children achieve as highly as those in the best state schools in the

country? Recognising exceptional talent already within the school, I promoted staff

who shared the same blend of qualities – a complete intolerance of mediocrity; the

ability to inspire, lead and support all stakeholders; and the capacity to hold staff

REPORT CARD

COLEGRAVE PRIMARY SCHOOL

»Head teacher: Tahreem Shaz-

Vennus

»Founded in 1890

»Based in Stratford, Newham

»Type of school: Three-form-

entry community school

»No. of pupils: 630

»No. of staff: 100

»Resource provision for children

with profound and multiple

learning disabilities

»Lead school for SCITTELS – an

outstanding teacher-training

provider for east London

schools

»Our pupils performed during

the NHS sequence of the

opening ceremony for the

2012 London Olympics

»www.colegrave.newham.sch.uk

Colegrave Primary

School

31COLEGRAVE PRIMARY SCHOOL |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

accountable. Above all, I now had a

team who would never waver from

their core purpose – to put the children

at the heart of all we do, and to

ensure that our high expectations for

teaching, learning and pupil outcomes

were met daily.

These objectives could never be

realised without the right teaching

and support personnel. Committed

and driven colleagues who shared

my vision for the school stayed

and flourished while talented new

staff were recruited. Teachers with

ambition and leadership qualities were

promoted to middle leader, either as

year lead or subject lead, and support

staff were assigned roles suited to their

specific skill set. In addition, new roles

– such as specialist PE, performing

arts and “English as an additional

language” teachers – were created

by utilising sports and pupil premium

funds. Running parallel to this period

of change was the establishment of an

additional resource provision base – a

“very special environment”, according

to our June 2017 Ofsted report – that

has given our pupils with even the

most complex needs the opportunity

to thrive as a result of first-class

teaching by staff specialising in SEND.

None of this happened overnight,

of course, and I didn’t always get it

right, but identifying and retaining the

right person in the right role has been

fundamental to our success.

Conquering the community

consciousness

Getting it right from within is one

thing – how the school is perceived

by the wider community is another.

Despite our “good” Ofsted grading

in 2012, we were by no means the

first choice for many families living

within our catchment. Newly opened

academies and free schools were

attracting many prospective and

current pupils. Determined to reverse

this trend, I began by revitalising

“Brand Colegrave”. A refreshed logo

and updated vision statement – “At

Colegrave, whatever a child’s mind can

conceive and believe, it can achieve”

– were followed by the introduction

of a smarter, more distinctive uniform.

Although we relied upon some of the

school budget to initially subsidise

the cost of the uniform to parents, At Colegrave, all children

achieve highly, regardless

of disadvantages or

disabilities

UNICEF Rights Respecting

School – a right to play

At Colegrave,

whatever a

child’s mind

can conceive

and believe, it

can achieve

“

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

32 | COLEGRAVE PRIMARY SCHOOL

Iconsidered 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

www.colegrave.newham.sch.uk

This article was sponsored by Colegrave Primary School. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy