School Focus: Windale primary aims to develop 'the whole child'

Throughout pupils’ time at the Blackbird Leys school, they will work outdoors, learn French, sing in Christ Church Cathedral, put on shows, and have their artwork displayed at Modern Art Oxford.

Since a spell in ‘special measures’ in 2004, the school, under headteacher Maureen Thompson, has made huge strides in teaching, learning, behaviour and attainment.

When Ofsted inspectors last visited last year, they described it as “rapidly impr-oving”.

Mrs Thompson, who has been at Windale for five years, said: “We have lots of activities that help to develop children’s awareness of cultural aspects of life as well.

“Music, dance and drama are all big areas as well as outdoor learning.”

Each week, children spend half a day learning outdoors and using their allotment.

Mrs Thompson said: “At this time of year they are planting seeds, so they are working on measurements, which helps their maths, and learning about how plants need water and light in science.

“Afterwards they will write poems about what they have been doing.

“It all gives children a reason for reading, writing and maths, and real life experience. Our children like that hands-on experience of learning.”

Windale is now set to expand, with new buildings allowing a two-form annual entry. That is set to increase school numbers to 450.

Staff also constantly try to open up new experiences for the children.

When the nearby Kassam Stadium’s ox statue was sprayed pink by vandals, youngsters held a ‘pink day’ to raise money for breast cancer research.

Some of the school’s most vulnerable children work with Oxford charity Art Room on creative projects to help their learning.

Just before Christmas, 13 of them appeared in the Almeida Theatre, in Islington, as backing choir for an all-star cast including Juliet Stephenson and Bill Paterson.

Annual drama productions have included nativity plays, Easter performances, Arabian Nights and Grease, and Years Three to Six all go on annual trips, with the oldest pupils staying at a French chateau.

Mrs Thompson said: “We try to put in experiences that will help them develop their own life, and let them try things they might not have been aware of.”

She said the school’s prime focus was now to boost the school’s Sats results.

At Key Stage Two, 43 per cent of pupils achieved the expected level in both maths and English in 2010.

FIONA Lyford’s small teaching room is bewilderingly intense.

Covered in bright lists and grids of words and numbers, this is where she works with children struggling with English and maths to make them leap ahead through one-to-one tuition.

Her “Reading Recovery” programme is targeted at six-year-olds whose reading age has fallen below four years and ten months.

Through daily half-hour sessions over 20 weeks, she will help them tackle their literacy problems so they can catch up and often exceed their peers before the gap widens.

She said: “It is almost like a brain gym.

“WIthout it, they would have teaching assistant supports as and when, but their barrier to learning or the reason they are struggling may not be identified.

“They will always be behind and not quite there with their reading.

“Then they could go to secondary school still not being able to read and go out into the world basically illiterate.”

The sessions, which are given to eight children at any one time, involve word activities and challenge youngsters to improve their reading dramatically.

She said: “In the first week, they might not be able to read, and by the end they will have five or 10 books they can read all the way through.”

Similar maths interventions, also run by Miss Lyford, have led youngsters to make up to two years of progress in just 12 weeks, by finding the issues the youngsters are struggling with and tackling them in a one-to-one session.

Headteacher Maureen Thompson said: “Even if it is only a small number of children, if they are back on track it makes a huge difference.”

Miss Lyford also helps run the school’s British Council links to other partner schools across Europe, and runs the after-school cooking club for parents and children.