
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
2| DALE COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL
Community focus and clear
values
There are 550 pupils on roll from
reception to year 6 and the school
is federated with Stonehill Nursery
School, which is a 51-place maintained
nursery taking two, three and four-
year-olds. Our locality is one of the
most deprived in Derby and is also
in the top 20 per cent of deprived
areas in the UK. High mobility within
the local community means that our
pupil numbers fluctuate. Our school
welcomes a range of nationalities,
with the majority of pupils learning
English as an additional language. Dale
Primary is a community school and our
community is truly at the heart of what
I believe school is about.
Increasingly, our families, particularly
our new families, understand our
expectations and values because of
the help they receive from the school’s
Inclusion Team. This dedicated team
helps us build and maintain positive
relationships with parents and carers,
and all of our staff, of which there are
over 100, are committed to providing
support. I was lucky to inherit a school
that was already well respected within
the community, and we continue to
build upon these strong foundations.
Staff morale is high and this increases
the confidence that stakeholders have
in the school. As a leadership team, we
are aware of the challenges our staff
face and ensure that we offer them
high-quality CPD to equip them to face
these challenges. Because we invest
in our staff, involve them and make
them aware of the rationale behind
decision-making, they offer greater
commitment and this in turn benefits
our pupils.
For our staff, parents and pupils, our
values are at the centre of everything
we do and the decisions that we make.
At Dale, we create an environment
where we inspire a love of learning,
build a strong community, celebrate
our diversity and provide life-changing
opportunities so that children can
flourish and therefore achieve in all
areas of school life.
Revamping our curriculum
Our inspection report in 2014
identified maths as being the area
that needed the most improvement
and so our deputy head embarked
on a search for an approach that
would meet the needs of our
children. Following detailed research,
we introduced the Maths Mastery
approach, a programme that has since
been embedded across the school.
Maths Mastery has changed the
way we teach maths, and children’s
ability to articulate their mathematical
understanding has improved
significantly. My deputy has become
a Maths Mastery specialist, which
Our dedicated sports
team uses the facilities
and opportunities in our
community to take part
in a range of sports
Dale Primary is
a community
school and
our
community is
truly at the
heart of what
I believe
school is
about
“
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