WESTBURY CofE Junior School is celebrating a year of huge achievement after a progress report rated the school as being in the top 1% of schools in the country.
Following key stage 2 assessment results for 8-11 year olds, the school has been ranked as being in the top 1% for combined progress scores in reading and maths by the Fischer Family Trust, one of the main educational data reporting organisations.
Headteacher Richard Hatt said, “We are very proud of these spectacular results. As a school, this outstanding progress has been achieved through a complex set of strategies, established over time and implemented by outstanding staff on all levels. I would publicly like to thank the staff, who have given so much for so long. I would also like to thank governors, parents and above all, the lovely children who have shown great enthusiasm for the vision of the school by striving to create a vibrant, Christian learning environment for all.”
Chair of Governors for the school, Ian Cunningham said, “I would like, on behalf of all the governors at Westbury CofE Junior School, to congratulate the headteacher, Mr Hatt, his staff and all the children for a remarkable set of results.
“A cause of even greater delight is the progress of the school’s disadvantaged children. The government, quite rightly, focuses on this group of children because so many fall behind throughout school and, by an accident of birth, typically end up with fewer life opportunities. Extra payments called ‘pupil premium’ are made to schools to support these children. Nationally about 27% of students have pupil premium – the year in question at Westbury Junior School had over 60%.
“In maths, the disadvantaged children’s progress was in the top 2% nationally – that was against all children, not just other disadvantaged children. They were also in the top 5% for reading and top 19% for writing – the school’s report from the government describes this as “significantly above national”.
“Nationally 61.1% of all children managed to make the expected standard in all three key stage 2 assessments (reading, writing and maths); in Wiltshire the figure was 58.8% and at Westbury Junior School 77.4%.
“Westbury Junior School has been on a sustained path of improvement in results over the last few years, but even governors were a little doubtful when staff predicted (correctly as it happens!) that our results would rise again by quite so much for 2016-17. Older governors (and residents) remember that the school was rated by Ofsted as “requires improvement” or even “inadequate” for almost a decade; even when I became a governor in late 2013, the school had still to reach Ofsted “good” (April 2015) and talk of recent results would have been seen as highly optimistic.
“As governors, we feel that the huge efforts by dedicated staff to produce these sorts of results in a significantly deprived location, such that the school now tops several categories nationally, must be acknowledged and celebrated.”
