VIEW FROM THE CLASSROOM
The journey from Inadequate to Good
pupil premium, 21 per cent are learners with SEND and 82 per cent are non-white British. Our school benefits from a close-knit local community and is built upon six Christian, yet universal, values: respect, thankfulness, forgiveness, resilience, honesty and inclusivity. These values provide an inclusive framework, bringing together the unique and special mix of pupils and communities we serve within one school family.
Your school has come a long way in the past few years, can you explain its improvement journey?
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n our ever-popular View from the classroom feature this month we’re delighted to hear from GAVIN HAMILTON, Headteacher at Shipley CE Primary School, who explains how the school went from Inadequate to Good in three years.
Tell us about your school
Shipley Primary School is a Church of England Academy in the multi-cultural suburb of Shipley, North Bradford. We provide high quality education for pupils ages three to 11 years old, from Nursery to Year 6, and are part of the Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust (BDAT). We serve 210 pupils, 22 per cent of whom are on
Shipley joined BDAT in 2018 following an Inadequate Ofsted rating. When I started my role as Headteacher in 2021, another inspection was due to take place imminently. This meant that alongside settling into the role and getting to know the school community, I also had to quickly implement effective changes to continue to further improve the school and ensure we could demonstrate our transformation.
With the hard work of our staff, the expertise of the central Trust team and support from colleagues across BDAT schools, we developed a robust school improvement strategy to enhance our provision.
A key part of this strategy was drawing on best practices embedded at other BDAT schools and integrating these alongside the good practices already in progress at Shipley. This included subject areas and curriculum-building,
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for example, developing our SEND provision through an adaptive teaching model, as well as strengthening our business plan and expanding our Ofsted preparation.
Another essential part of our journey was appointing a business manager and special education needs coordinator (SENDCo) – who split their time between us and another Trust school. This enabled us to introduce new ideas and benefit from their expertise so we could build on our provision whilst providing financial savings which we reinvested in teaching and learning. As the roles were joint, our business manager and SENDCo were also intrinsic to the sharing of best practice, drawing on their knowledge from the other school.
These initiatives made it possible to make rapid improvements and when Ofsted visited in 2022, we were ready. We received a Good rating in every area, reaffirming our positive trajectory and celebrating the hard work of our staff, pupils and families.
Now, we serve other Trust schools as a capacity giver and best practice example. For instance, during the RAAC enquiry in Autumn 2023, we hosted pupils and staff from another BDAT school whilst their building was reinforced. We also lead staff training courses for teachers and leaders internally and externally, including Year 6 networks and NPQSL delivery, and we share our vision and culture as a guide for others to strengthen community morale.
May 2024
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