Davington Primary School

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Davington 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 Davington 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.davington.kent.sch.uk

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

12 | DAVINGTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

Chilton Saint, head teacher

Pupils blossom in a culture of

respect and opportunity

Based in the historic market town of Faversham, Kent is

Davington Primary School. Despite facing numerous problems

of a socioeconomic nature, a strong will to bring its children

the best possible learning experience has helped surmount them.

The head teacher, Chilton Saint, has sought to bring all children

at his school – no matter their background – education of the

highest possible standard, as well as a genuinely happy learning

space. What follows is his account of this approach.

Our starting point

Upon first becoming head teacher, the situation was inconsistent. To get a sense

of this, consider that there had been 46 exclusions over the course of three years;

the SLT had left the summer prior; there existed no deputy head nor special needs

coordinator; school results were wavering below national expectations; and there

was no formal methodology to either teaching or feedback systems. On top of this,

there was a marked lack of aspiration in the area; for some segments of Faversham,

this is an intergenerational problem. Seeing the severity of these problems, I

immediately got to work on them.

One of the first tasks for me was to establish a fundamentally new modus operandi

for the school. Indeed, on day one I jettisoned detentions, with a focus instead

on promoting positive behaviour. This marked the beginning of a journey. In the

first 15months, I had to establish a set of hard and non-negotiable rules, in terms

of both behaviour and learning – not least because there was something of a

procedural vacuum preceding my time at the school. The staff were invited on this

REPORT CARD

DAVINGTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

»Head teacher: Chilton Saint

»Founded in 1882

»Based in Faversham, Kent

»Type of school: Primary school

»No. of pupils: 420

»No. of staff: 72

»Has a classroom in the middle

of a one-acre woodland area,

partially built by the head

teacher himself

»One of the earliest schools

established in the area

»www.davington.kent.sch.uk

Davington Primary

School

13DAVINGTON PRIMARY SCHOOL |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

journey, with the aim of promoting

shared values. More specifically, I

wanted staff to take responsibility

for the children’s development.

For some, this was an unwelcome

development, and resulted in some

leaving. Nevertheless, the staff we

have now are stable and are afforded

opportunities to engage in continuous

professional development – and not

just for the teachers either; the support

staff are similarly engaged.

Creating experiences

But not all is so regimented. At the

heart of everything we do at our school

is the children’s well-being. From this

foundational value, everything else

follows. In terms of their long-term

futures, education is an obvious path to

this end. In the shorter term, however,

we are committed to providing the

children the best possible experience

at school. Quite simply, we want them

to have fun and be happy, particularly

those children whose backgrounds are

not conducive to a good childhood. It

is for this reason we built a classroom

in the middle of a one-acre woodland

area, with a pond, orchard and story-

telling area – a project which I had a

personal and physical role in making.

This particular area makes our staff

and pupils proud of their school.

In addition to this, we have in place

for our students a scheme called

“Experience Days”. On an Experience

Day, we will suddenly announce to

students on certain days that they will

be going on an adventure of some

kind – without them knowing prior. As

one would expect, this causes much

excitement. On one occasion, we

even procured tonnes of sand in order

to emulate a beach on the school

premises. By making school fun in

this way, the children indelibly inherit

warm memories of childhood, and – by

extension – associate a learning life

with a good life.

That’s not to say, however, that the

children are merely passive recipients

of what we have to offer. The children

play an active role in making their

school a happy, functioning space.

In creating an orchard village, for

example, the children had almost

entire discretion over the requisite

materials and project management.

This meant exhaustive searches

around the school for potential

resources for its construction, as well

as the formation of roles, rules and

responsibilities among each other.

When done correctly, this imbues

our children with empathy, resilience,

resourcefulness, creativity and

responsibility.

Developing confident,

articulate learners Learning through creativity

At the heart of

everything we

do at our school

is the children’s

wellbeing. From

this

foundational

value,

everything else

follows

“

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

14 | DAVINGTON PRIMARY SCHOOL

Community spirit

To us, fostering a genuine sense of

community spirit is crucial. This is

why, at the end of every school day,

we ensure there is a strong teacher

and staff presence at the school

gates. This allows us to engage with

the parents, and them with us. We

are very approachable, and parents

do indeed take advantage of this

opportunity – something to which

our recent Ofsted report attests.

Moreover, we hold a breakfast,

afterschool and holiday club every

day of the year except Christmas

– sending a strong message to our

pupils and the community as a

whole that our role goes beyond the

prescribed school hours.

Beyond that, we also play an

active role in the Kent Association

of Headteachers (KAH) – a body

representing over 500 head teachers

in the whole of Kent. The purpose

of this organisation is to coalesce

around common issues and to lend

support to one another. One of our

common areas of concern right now

is special educational needs (SEN)

funding, an issue we at Davington

are currently taking up with the local

authority – which brings us to a more

general point about politics, namely

governmental funding.

SEN funding has been difficult for us,

particularly given how tailored the

interventions must be for some of our

pupils. There is no blanket solution

to the problems afflicting pupils in

this category, so focused efforts

are necessary for their amelioration

– and, quite simply, this cannot be

adequately achieved in the absence

of funding. One of the principal

reasons we’re struggling to procure

these resources is because funding

schemes for SEN at their inception

were too indiscriminately used, leading

to a strong reaction in the opposite

direction from those who handle the

funds. This, we believe, is a problem

for central government to deal with,

and, if done correctly, could help not

just our school, but schools up and

down the country.

Such matters are not in our hands,

though. What is in our hands is how

we comport ourselves as a school,

which for us entails the commitment

to the children’s well-being. Doing

so is not just an exercise in day care;

its effects will have an enduring and

formative impact on the children’s

approach to education and life more

generally. This is especially needed for

areas with high pockets of deprivation,

where not everyone is afforded the

best opportunities in life.

By making

school fun in

this way, the

children

indelibly inherit

warm

memories of

childhood, and

– by extension

– associate a

learning life

with a good

life

“

Nurturing a love of

reading

Rich and fulfilling

educational experiences

www.davington.kent.sch.uk

This article was sponsored by Davington 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 The Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

This foreword from the then Prime Minister appeared in the 2018/19 Parliamentary Review.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister