YOU might not expect to find a ‘village school’ in the heart of one of Europe’s largest council estates.

But with chickens, a school dog, and allotments producing fresh vegetables for the on-site community café, Pegasus Primary is not a normal school.

Headteacher Jill Hudson was only meant to stay two terms when she arrived from Lewknor C of E Primary School 11 years ago.

Ofsted judged it to be failing and placed it in special measures.

Barbed wire topped the fences and Mrs Hudson was asked to help turn the school around. She has never left.

She said: “After a term I realised there was a lot to do and I loved it here.

“We have genuinely tried to give it a village school feel, even though we are in the city.

“What is good about villages is every single person in the community matters and makes a contribution.”

Throughout the children’s time at school, teachers routinely tell them there are no barriers to what they can achieve.

Mrs Hudson said: “The heart of it is making learning intrinsically exciting, even joyful.

“We have a café, we grow food, we have chickens wandering around and do lots of residential trips.

“We have exceptional music, with steel bands, handbells and African drums.

“Above all we have aspirations, believing the children, whatever their backgrounds, can achieve great things. There are some of the brightest kids I have ever taught in my career in this school.”

Storytelling is a big part of the school’s literacy drive, and charity The Iris Project has started teaching Latin to improve pupils’ grammar.

As a result, SATS results have increased consistently, and Ofsted have praised the “inspirational leadership” that has filled pupils with self-confidence.

Inspectors who visited in February said: “The school is successful because leaders have created an ethos in which all pupils are valued and respected.

“All leaders contribute enormously to school improvement because none will accept second best.”

And Mrs Hudson, whose black labrador Winston accompanies her to school every day, added: “The kids are superb.

“I’m sure we have people here who are future leaders of the county.

“The message here is that there is no lid on learning.

“As a result, we have kids who believe in themselves.

“During the SATS boycotts last year, the pupils were actually asking to do the exams to show everyone how good they are.”

The children now make their own suggestions about how to improve their education.

Through the Looking At Learning initiative, set up two years ago, pupils have described surprisingly sophisticated changes they want to see.

Above all they have asked to be stretched and challenged in the lessons and experiences the school offers.

FACTS

SCHOOL: Pegasus Primary School

ADDRESS: Field Avenue, Blackbird Leys, OX4 6RQ

NO. OF PUPILS: 480

NO. OF TEACHERS: 18

OFSTED RATING: Good

GOVERNORS & THE PTA

NEXT week, children will be telling governors about how they want their school to improve.

For two years, a group of pupils has been examining areas they want to change, from particular areas of teaching to the school’s ethos.

Last year, the work culminated in the production of a short stop-motion animation, showing two fleas learning to jump as high as they possibly can.

The DVD and its message, that there should be no lid on learning, has been shown at conferences of educationalists and to new staff applying for jobs at Pegasus.

Chairman of governors Jane Watret said: “It is so important to hear this message from the children about what they want.

“We want all the children who come through Pegasus to move on to secondary school with a degree of self-confidence, self-belief and a love of learning to take them on to the next level.

“The school staff work very hard to give them rich experiences, including through residential visits for pupils from Year Three upwards.

“Earlier this year, our Year Six group went to stay in Stratford, and I went to see a performance of Hamlet with them.

“The children were excited and completely engrossed in the performance. They took so much from that experience. It opened them up to a range of opportunities that took them out of their comfort zones.”

She added: “The pupils recognise that they do not want to just do things that are comfortable and safe but to take their learning to the next stage.

“That is something the governors, teachers and everybody in the school community want for the children.”

STAR TEACHER

FEW city schools can put so much focus on taking their children outdoors.

Since starting at Pegasus eight years ago, Ali Dring, right, has brought about a green revolution, with pupils now planting, nurturing and harvesting lots of vegetables each year to serve in the school’s Boiler Room café and in school dinners.

As outdoor learning, creativity and enterprise co-ordinator, she has overseen the creation of huge allotment patches filled with herbs, flowers and vegetables, and planted trees across Pegasus’ grounds.

Children tend to them each day, all the time using classroom skills while discovering the natural world.

Miss Dring said: “Often because it is so exciting for them, they don’t realise they are learning.

“All the time, the sessions are constructed so they are using language and numeracy.

“Above that, it is a fundamental life skill to know where food comes from, how to grow it and how to prepare it.”

Through the academic year they follow the seasonal cycle: planting pumpkin seeds, growing them, cooking them, then replanting the new seeds the following year.

Miss Dring said: “The children are a lot more engaged when they are outside.

“There is more exploration, exercise, fresh air and passion.

“While there can be challenging behaviour in the classroom, there are never any problems out here.”

Headteacher Jill Hudson said: “Ali has an amazing way with the children. She is just fabulous.”