CONGRATULATIONS: William Booth Primary School!

I was really delighted to be at William Booth Primary School in Nottingham yesterday as they came out of Special Measures! It is a fantastic achievement for the whole team who under Gary Fullwood's leadership have worked so incredibly hard to change almost every aspect of their practice and provision and to release the magic in some wonderful young people.

The senior team, Gary, Claire Wilkinson, Tammy Swift and Claire Goodfellow, have done something quite extraordinary because William Booth Primary School had been in Special Measures following a very critical OFSTED Inspection in December 2010. The school has also been going through the transition from being a two form entry infant and nursery school to become a one form entry primary school. Some real challenges were facing the school. How could they build on the work in the early years. How could they develop literacy policy and practice to ensure that every child is a listener, communicator, reader and writer. How could they develop numeracy policy and practice to ensure that every child is a counter, can calculate and is confident with numbers. Critically they also needed to focus on discipline, behaviour and building character to prepare young people for secondary education and life!

This was a school where a young enthusiastic and committed team wanted to do a great job and the senior team have built a strong performance management and coaching culture where everyone has access to training and personal development. They have worked with some great colleagues in the authority to improve and continuously develop their practice drawing on assessment for learning and the intelligent use of data to ensure that every child is provided with the curriculum and the opportunities to reach their potential.

It will be great to read the OFSTED inspection report when it is published.