EB Awards
the top percentile in the deprivation index with higher than national average children accessing pupil premium and EAL. The school is located in an area with an active gang culture, which has had a personal impact on staff and students within the school. However, the school has seen a three year trend of continuously improving results, placing it in the top three per cent for the country for progress. With improving absence percentages for both children and staff and a focus on mental health and wellbeing, the school has gone from strength to strength in achieving the best for its pupils. This has resulted in staff retention remaining at an all time high and the school now has a waiting list. The final school that may scoop the award for Outstanding Progress in the primary catergory is Ernesettle Community
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School in Plymouth. It is in an area of high deprivation, and when the school was deemed as ‘requiring Special Measures’ for the second time in less than three years in May 2010, the legacy of low aspiration, low academic standards and high levels of local unemployment were only compounded. A new headteacher was appointed in May 2010 to address these issues and seven years later, the school is now very proud to be the highest performing school on average in the authority over the past six years and the regional winner of the Pupil Premium Award in 2016. This journey has been enabled by a staff team and a community of children and families, who now have the potential to live happy, prosperous and rewarding lives. As a result of the school’s outstanding reputation, it now has 485 children compared with 240 in 2010. The school was named in the top 1,000 schools nationally for the last three years in a row, and was the winner of the regional Pupil Premium Award in 2016, as well as winning the title of ‘Best School in Plymouth’ in 2018. ICT Innovation Award Leighton Park School in Berkshire is up for three awards this year: ICT Innovation, STEM and ICT Facility awards. The school has delivered a two year strategy to promote and integrate STEM learning through an innovative vision and framework. Working with industry, charities and not-for-profit organisations, the school has provided creative experiences for its students, as well as 730 students from local primary and secondary schools. One of the many outputs of this framework has included students engaging with the latest technologies including augmented reality, simulators, artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Experience and skills with these emerging technologies are fundamental to the school’s values to enable students to be confident, competent and to be highly employable for future STEM careers. Leighton Park School aims to be a centre of innovation, inviting local primary and secondary schools to benefit from these technologies. It is also a lead school for technology in the Thames Valley. To help achieve this, the school is creating STEM innovation collaborative classrooms for the 20182019 academic year. These innovation zones will provide unique, collaborative and dynamic learning environments which make the best use of the installed technology. Leighton Park School has become the winner of the Ripple Effect campaign which has delivered cutting edge technology from manufacturers such as HP, Intel, Misco, Softcat and XMA. L
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Volume 23.5 | EDUCATION BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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