WITH 467 pupils, Church Cowley St James is the largest primary school in Oxford.

New headteacher Jonathan Walker arrived from Lewknor in January, and said the school is now “improving rapidly”.

A new values document, published in the spring, outlines the school’s vision and school prayer, emphasising its strong links to the Church of England.

Pledges including making the curriculum more creative, engaging with the local community and launching new eco-projects to improve the school site.

Mr Walker said: “With the tough new Ofsted regime, we were at risk of failing an inspection, but now we are improving rapidly.

“There has been a period of major growth over the last five or 10 years, and the school was in need of focus and a new vision.

“It was important to bring everybody together around the same kind of values and to raise expectations.

“For example, school uniform seems old hat, but if those fundamental expectations are high, then pupils will strive to be the best.”

He added: “The children come from very varied, and sometimes quite hard, backgrounds.

“We want them to aim high, and give them life chances, but also to foster spiritual and emotional growth.

“As a church school, that is top of our values.”

The school dates back to 1834, when the Reverend Georgie Moore first established Cowley St James for children in the parish.

Industrialist William Morris attended the school in the 1880s, and the new Church Cowley School was built less than half a mile away as his car plant grew. The two schools merged in the 1970s.

With a third of pupils now from ethnic minority backgrounds, the school focuses not just on teaching pupils about the local culture behind the school’s past, but the varied cultures of pupils’ own backgrounds.

The school building itself is also being modernised.

A new reception lobby has made a more welcoming entrance and classrooms were reorganised over the summer holidays, moving Years Five and Six into their own building to prepare them for the transition to secondary school.

Mr Walker said: “It is a relatively small site in terms of acreage, and the school was not built for 467 pupils.

“We really need to get the best of it, and would like more green areas and more permanent play equipment.”

The headteacher now wants to develop the school’s eco work, and wants to target fundraising on improving the outside areas at the school.

From India to Oxford, Eleanor Watts has taught children in vastly different settings across the world.

She brought her unique experiences to Church Cowley St James four-and-a-half years ago, has served on the school’s senior leadership team and runs the school’s drama club.

Having run her own school in India for many years, teaching classes of 50 pupils in barely-equipped classrooms, Mrs Watts now writes textbooks for pupils in the developing world in her spare time.

She said: “In India, I learnt that you do not need lots of equipment to teach well.

“What you need is to be passionate about teaching.”

She added: “You can be a teacher in lots of different ways, and this school is full of good teachers.

“I’m not a ‘star teacher’, just one of many who are all different.

“The teacher is an artist really. It is a creative profession.”

Headteacher Jonathan Walker said: “Mrs Watts is a long-standing member of staff, and has contributed a lot to the school.

“Her lessons are always full of drama, and the children absolutely love her.”