WOODBERRY DOWN

Community Primary School

Woodberry Grove, Lonon N4 1SY

February 2012

The Secretary of State for Education visited Woodberry Down today. The visit saw teachers, support staff and children enthusiastically engaged and we visited every classroom. Mr Gove said, “I had very high expectations of what I would see here – but they have been totally surpassed.”
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September 2011
Mr Wallace appears on BBC Breakfast TV to talk about the new phonics check for 6 year olds.

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November 2010
Woodberry Down is one of 12 schools featured in new Ofsted report - 'Reading by six: how the best schools do it.'

The best primary schools teach virtually all their children to read, regardless of their social and economic background, ethnicity, language spoken at home, special needs and disability – an Ofsted report launched today reveals.

Nationally, one in five children leaving primary school do not reach the standard expected for reading and writing. The report, Reading by six: how the best schools do it, highlights the good practice of 12 outstanding schools across England representing a diverse range of communities that show it is possible for all schools to achieve the highest standards.

Success in the 12 schools was based on a determination that every child will learn to read, together with a step by step approach to teaching reading, writing and spelling systematically through phonics. 
You can download the report here.

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May 2010
Woodberry Down is featured in a Teacher’s TV programme about Early Reading
Teaching children to read is one of the most important things we do at school. Woodberry Down does it very well so we were delighted when Teacher’s TV asked to film us at work. You can watch the video here.

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March 2010
Woodberry Down becomes England’s first primary Accredited Schools Group

We were thrilled to learn that Woodberry Down, supported by the Best Start Federation, has become England’s first primary Accredited Schools Group.

The purpose of the accreditation system is to enable the best education providers to share good practice across the system, and in particular, to improve standards in underperforming schools. Woodberry Down, and staff from the Best Start Federation, have been doing this for nearly two years now. Accredited School Groups can lead 3 or more schools, and Accredited School Providers can lead up to 2 schools.

Greg Wallace, Executive Principal, said, ‘Schools that are underperforming lack clarity. Muddled thinking is prevalent, particularly around what constitutes good teaching and good curriculum provision. Weaknesses in day-to-day organisational management allow a range of problems to go undetected and some of the school’s systems act as barriers to increasing teacher effectiveness.

Every child deserves the best start in life through attending a great primary school. Achieving Accredited Schools Group status right at the start of the government’s accreditation drive is an enormous honour to everyone who works within and across the Best Start Federation.’

You can read more here.

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March 2010
Roselyn Codadeen wins The Learning Trust’s Teaching Assistant of the Year Award

The award is for a teaching assistant who has made an outstanding contribution to a school. This is Roselyn so we were all delighted when Roselyn won the award. Thoroughly deserved!
On collecting he award, Roselyn said: “My team are a lovely bunch to work with. It means a lot that my Head thought enough of me to nominate me. I love working with kids and wouldn’t dream of doing anything else so winning this award is just a bonus for me.”
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February 2010
Gordon Brown visits Woodberry Down
On 23 February 2010 Woodberry Down played host to a range of very special visitors including the Prime Minister (Gordon Brown) and Education Secretary (Ed Balls). The were joined on stage by Dame Julia Cleverdon, Chair of Teach First.
The Prime Minister outlined his vision for an education system based on a commitment to excellence. Addressing the audience of hundred people at Woodberry Down, Mr Brown said reforms in education would focus on raising the status and standard of teaching, creating a personalised teaching environment, and promoting excellence.
Mr Brown, Mr Balls and Dame Cleverdon also met some pupils – who were thrilled by the whole experience! It was a great day.
Download the speech
Article in the Hackney Citizen
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February 2010
Mandeville’s Ofsted report is published

We were all delighted to receive the final report for Mandeville’s recent Ofsted inspection. Staff from Woodberry Down and London Fields have been working alongside staff at Mandeville since January 2009 and Mr Wallace has been Executive Principal of all three schools since June 2009.

The report was very positive, reflecting the huge improvements that have taken place at the school:

Mandeville Primary is a good school. It is improving rapidly and starting to exhibit some outstanding features.

The role of the federation in securing success at Mandeville was also highlighted:

The remarkable progress that has taken place in less than a year stems directly from working in partnership with the federation. Teaching is improving rapidly as the school is able to draw on expertise from across the federation to develop teachers’ skills. This and the impending formal entry of the school into the federation, with the continued benefits this brings, provide the school with excellent capacity to secure further improvement.

You can download the full report here.

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February 2010
School visited by Ofsted as part of the 2009-10 survey inspection programme: raising aspirations and achievement- the power of partnership

At the beginning of February we had a visit from Ofsted to look at the hard federation at London Fields and Woodberry Down Primary Schools. The visit letter has now been published.

We were delighted with the feedback received.
‘Clear strategic vision for the federation… relentless drive to raise standards… outstanding leadership capacity developed at Woodberry Down… the drive and ambition for every pupil to succeed came through strongly in all discussions with staff… exceptional ICT systems… innovative assessment and marking procedures evidenced in pupils’ books… London Fields’ pupils bubbled with enthusiasm and pride as they talked about ‘the magical change that happened’ at the start of the federation… teaching was lively and learning was purposeful… the presentation of pupils’ work was of a high standard across the federation and the standard of pupils’ work at London Fields showed remarkable improvement since its start… excellent support from the chair of governors… visionary, strategic development… clearly valued by the Learning Trust.’

You can read the whole letter here.

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February 2010
Roselyn Codadeen is a finalist in The Learning Trust Educator Awards 2010

We were all delighted to find out that Roselyn has become a finalist in the 2010 Learning Trust Educator Awards. Thoroughly deserved, the nomination included the following comments...

‘An amazing teaching assistant... Roselyn possesses all the skills and qualities that very good teachers have… All the teachers she has ever worked with rate her as an outstanding teaching assistant… Roselyn also works with small groups and individuals. She marks the children’s work accurately, regularly and to a very good standard. She contributes to booster classes and to holiday catch-up classes… Roselyn is a role model to other classroom assistants… Roselyn takes overall responsibility for ensuring the class and school environment is consistently set up to support learning. Visitors to Woodberry Down always comment on how vibrant it is. Roselyn regularly takes the laminator home with her to ensure teacher’s endless demands for vocabulary and other prompts can be met! Roselyn also led a small team over the summer of 2008 who set up all the classroom environments at London Fields. She also ordered all the stock and resources the school would need. In the summer of 2009 she did the same thing at Mandeville…. Over the last decade Roselyn has contributed way beyond that expected of a teaching assistant. She is a core part of the school and we would be lost without her. She gives her all to every school event whilst knowing the importance of staying focused on the core purpose of the school: teaching and learning.’
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November 2009
SCHOOL VISITED BY THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE GENERAL TEACHING COUNCIL
At the end of October we were visited by Keith Bartley (Chief Executive, General Teaching Council) and Mohamed Rahman (Teacher Learning Academy). They spent a morning in school and had a very enjoyable visit. Here is the letter they wrote after their visit.

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September 2009
Woodberry Down and Mandeville on the BBC
We were delighted to feature in BBC2’s Daily Politics show – the clip is here.

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June 2009
NATIONAL LEADER OF EDUCATION/ NATIONAL SUPPORT SCHOOL
The Executive Principal and staff at Woodberry Down Community Primary School have been selected for a top role supporting schools in challenging circumstances.
Greg Wallace has become one of only about 100 heads across the country to be appointed in the latest recruitment round by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) to the prestigious role of National Leader of Education (NLE). It also means the school is now designated a National Support School (NSS).

NLEs use their success and professionalism as school leaders, along with the staff in their school – designated a National Support School - to provide additional leadership capacity in struggling schools. The type of support provided is flexible, ranging from coaching or consultancy and interim leadership roles to leadership of more than one school in a federated or executive headship. They also have responsibility for helping to grow the next generation of NLEs and National Support Schools.
The latest expansion of the scheme brings the total number available for deployment nationally to about 300. The overall expansion will see the number of NLEs increase by up to 500 by 2012 leading ultimately to 300 primary and 200 secondary National Support Schools.

Greg Wallace said: “We were all delighted to hear this news. For the last few years we have been working with other schools on a range of issues and this has seen us develop new skills whilst developing and consolidating work at Woodberry Down. It all brings another dimension to the school, keeping rapid continual improvement very much alive in our own school as well as others. At Woodberry Down and London Fields I work with many exceptionally talented and dedicated people. Their energy and commitment is inspirational.”

Toby Salt, Deputy Chief Executive of NCSL, said: “I am so proud that these outstanding school leaders like Greg Wallace are being honoured in this way. NLEs, supported by their schools, have a more important role to play than ever in ensuring that excellent school leadership and the best possible opportunities are available to as many children as possible. Many of the schools involved in the scheme see improvements in exam results at both the support and client schools with progress achieved in excess of the improvements nationally. This is thanks to the hard work and dedication of all those involved in the scheme.”

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February 2009

EFFECTIVE MARKING IS SHORTLISTED FOR THE INNOVATION AWARD - EDUCATION RESOURCES AWARDS 2009

We were very proud to learn that Effective Marking had been shortlisted for the above award. Designed, developed and implemented by staff from this school, it is a significant achievement.

Over the last year and half other schools have adopted our approach and subscribed to the website – in London, across the UK and – more recently, across the world.
Money from Effective Marking revenue provides additional funding that is always needed.

More importantly, we have prioritised one of the most important- and often neglected – aspects of teaching. The people that need to benefit from any educational award are children. And where Effective Marking is implemented consistently all the evidence suggests that they do.

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December 2008
London Fields Primary School, the school we are federated with, had a visit from Ofsted. The school came out of special measures and the report said, “Since September 2008, the school has been operating in close partnership with a highly successful primary school. Many leaders and experienced teachers, including the new executive principal, head of school, deputy and an assistant head have transferred to the school and brought with them effective systems based on best practice. Evidence shows clearly that through federation with Woodberry Down Primary School, the impact of which is already apparent in London Field's recent rapid improvements, the school's capacity for further improvement is very secure.” Read more here.

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November 2008
Ofsted visited the school. The report said, “Woodberry Down is an outstanding school that provides high quality education for all its pupils. The executive principal is an inspirational leader who has built an excellent team of assistant headteachers. Together they have very high expectations of pupils and staff and ensure the school's policies and procedures are applied consistently. Teaching and learning are outstanding, as pupils make very rapid progress from low starting points to reach the national average by the end of Year 6. Refugees and pupils who start school speaking little or no English do particularly well, and the level of pastoral care for all pupils is outstanding.” Read more here.
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October 2008
Woodberry Down is shortlisted for Becta’s national ICT Excellence Awards

Bright sparks from Woodberry Down have beaten off competition from more than 150 schools across the country to make the shortlist for Becta’s national ICT Excellence Awards. Becta, the government agency leading the use of technology in learning, organises the awards which recognise and reward those schools that have shown how technology can be imaginatively used to enhance lessons and school life.

This year, with an increased number of entries and a noticeably higher standard across the board, judging has been particularly tough. Despite the stiff competition, Woodberry Down managed to impress the judges by showcasing their ideas and methods of incorporating technology into the heart of school life.

Niel McLean, Becta’s executive director for institutional workforce and development, explained: “It is wonderfully inspiring to see the enthusiasm which Woodberry Down has invested into putting technology at the core of their everyday activities.
“It certainly is the way forward and I’m sure the school as a community – its teachers, learners, parents and governors - will benefit from the rewards that technology can bring to education, whether that’s through interactive whiteboards, blogging and messaging facilities or podcasting.” Greg Wallace (Executive Principal) added: “We’re thrilled to have been shortlisted; it’s a fitting reflection of the dedication shown by our teachers and pupils to ensure that we are a true 21st century school.”
The school will find out how it fares against the other shortlisted schools at the awards ceremony in Sheffield on 6 November.

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October 2008
Woodberry Down is awarded the Primary Geography Quality Mark – at the highest level – gold

The Primary Geography Quality Mark is an award for primary schools to celebrate the quality and progress in geography leadership, curriculum development, learning and teaching in their school. Woodberry Down has spent many years re-designing our geography curriculum and thinking of imaginative fieldwork projects such as those that led to our recent success in the Learning Outside the Classroom Awards.

Other notable achievements in geography have included the topics we wrote following the Tsunami in 2004, the Year 6 topic/school journey on Lyme Regis, our participation in New York City’s Global Partners scheme… A notable feature of our provision for geography is that is linked in imaginative ways to other curriculum areas.

We would like to thank current and past geography subject leaders: Sam Macdonald, Gemma Kent and Matt Wallis.

Greg Wallace, Executive Principal, will be speaking about one of the most successful cross-curricular projects we have developed (that involves a strong geographical element) at the Write Away BRIDGES FOR LEARNING conference which is being held at the Leeds Hilton Hotel on 24th October.

http://www.writeaway.org.uk

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October 2008
Woodberry Down is the London regional winner in the first ever national Learning Outside the Classroom Awards

The first ever national Learning Outside the Classroom Awards were announced on 2 October 2008. The awards celebrate schools which have used learning outside the classroom in imaginative and innovative ways including: providing opportunities for informal learning through play; reducing behaviour problems and improve attendance; stimulating, inspiring and improving motivation; providing challenge and the opportunity to take acceptable levels of risk; and improving young people’s attitude to learning.

The award was a result of Woodberry Down’s cross-curricular topics around Benjamin Zephaniah’s compelling novel Refugee Boy and Beverley Naidoo’s award-winning book The Other Side of Truth.

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September 2008
Woodberry Down is a finalist in the Learning Outside the Classroom Awards

At the end of last term the school found out it had been nominated for the first ‘learning outside the classroom awards’.

The awards aim to recognise the commitment of schools, teachers, youth groups, early years’ settings in England in providing learning outside the classroom experiences for their young people and to demonstrate examples of excellent and innovative practice. The LOtC Awards aim to showcase the variety and excellence of learning outside the classroom provision and its impact on young people.

Woodberry Down was nominated by Wendy North from the Geographical Association. Last week we learnt that Woodberry Down has been shortlisted as one of the finalists. Mr Wallace now has to provide further information and we will find out at the end of the month/early October.

The nomination (from the Geographical Association) was a result of Woodberry Down’s cross-curricular topics around Benjamin Zephaniah’s compelling novel Refugee Boy and Beverley Naidoo’s award-winning book The Other Side of Truth.
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September 2008
Making ICT Meaningful – a brand new teaching approach to ICT

The two schools in the London Fields Woodberry Down Federation have launched a brand new teaching programme for ICT. Written by Marco Ramsay (Deputy Head at London Fields and joint ICT leader at Woodberry Down) the programme is an
alternative way of approaching the teaching of ICT.

“By teaching dull and irrelevant units of work from the QCA teachers are actually putting children off using ICT,” said Mr Ramsay.

MICTM (Making ICT Meaningful) is a new approach altogether. It completely changes the structure of what is taught and how ICT is used with relatively cheap resources. Starting in Key Stage one, children are taught the fundamental skills needed for ICT. Year 3 is a critical point in MICTM as this is where the children learn to use software ready for their projects in Years 4, 5 and 6.

Once in Year 4, the children will no longer have a series of six lessons, as
their skills will be developed enough to work on their own projects. At this point the children will take on 12- week projects with a creative element at the core. These will consist of filmmaking, animation or sound creation. They will use all their skills over approximately twelve weeks.

MICTM is a complete programme that is highly supportive to teachers who are given simple, clear planning guidance and accompanying resources.

Many thanks to Mr Ramsay for all his hard work in writing MICTM. We look forward to seeing the results soon!
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July 2008

Delegate feedback from UKLA British Library Conference

“One of the workshops almost reduced me to tears of joy, as I felt as though through my active listening, I was sharing in the success of an amazing group of children from a school in Hackney…” Teacher, Streatham
“Greg Wallace’s workshop and his approach to the creative curriculum was spell binding. I sat and listened with growing excitement and an absolute conviction that this was what I wanted to see in schools in Sheffield.” Consultant, Sheffield

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June 2008
SIR JIM ROSE VISITS WOODBERRY DOWN AS PART OF THE REVIEW OF THE PRIMARY CURRICULUM

We were delighted to be chosen to receive a visit from Sir Jim Rose and colleague as part of the current government review of the primary curriculum. You can read his follow-up letter here.

Sir Jim visited classes and we focused on issues like effective marking, teaching maths effectively and much more. Mr Wallace explained why he felt the strategy of using so many reading recovery teachers and maths recovery teachers was inappropriate. Mr Wallace said before employing such teachers, it was essential to make sure every class teacher in the country was good or better and was using effective teaching methods very well. Sir Jim was very impressed with the school and we all had a great day.

Woodberry Down was previously one of the schools visited as part of the review into the teaching of reading, ‘the Rose review’ – the final report led to our key strategy – effective synthetic phonics (through Read Write Inc in our case) being recommended for all schools.

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April 2008
WOODBERRY DOWN GETS HIGH TECH ACCOLADE
Children at Woodberry Down are at the forefront of using information and communications technology to enhance their work, and that’s official!
Following an extensive external assessment Woodberry Down has been awarded the prestigious ICT Mark by Becta, the British Education Communications and Technology Agency, the government funded body responsible for promoting the use of ICT in Britain’s schools and colleges.
The award recognises the school’s success in developing the strategic use of ICT in both administration and across the curriculum. Parents will have proof that their children are attending a school at the forefront of modern technology.
Head teacher Greg Wallace commented, "We are delighted to be awarded the ICT Mark. It recognises our positive approach to ICT and the benefits it is bringing to our children. We believe that ICT can be used in every aspect of learning and that it is essential our children are equipped for the modern world. I want to thank the many, many people who have made this possible. Listing them all is impossible – but they include Marco Ramsay (Assistant Head and ICT leader), OnSite Solutions and Tony Zangoura (who gave his services for free during the development of the first 2 ICT suites). The fact we have three dedicated rooms for ICT is something that really does reflect the school’s commitment to this area."
Neil McLean, Executive Director for Educational Practice at Becta said, "Woodberry Down thoroughly deserve the accolade of an ICT mark. They clearly demonstrate how important it is to take a holistic approach to using ICT in schools. Their investment in new technology has contributed to substantial improvements in learning."

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March 2008
We were delighted to be involved in a two-week filming project about teaching synthetic phonics through Ruth Miskin’s ReadWriteInc programme. Three teachers, plus Ruth and Caroline, were filmed. Everyone was wonderful - and the children were best of all – managing to cope with a very intense period of filming with ease. We hope to show some clips on this website soon. The filming was for a RWI training DVD that will be used in ReadWriteInc teacher training.

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February 2008
Two new magazine articles published.

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December 2007
Peter Passam, Chair of Governors, has received an MBE in the New Year Honours list 2007. Peter’s MBE was for services to education in Hackney. He has been, and is, chair of governors/ a school governor at a number of schools. In relation to his work at Woodberry Down, Greg Wallace said, “Peter has exceptional personal qualities: he regularly puts others before himself whilst being bold and strong enough to put himself in the fore when the occasion demands. His commitment to Woodberry Down and Hackney has been unswerving. I know he is very proud of the school and he fully deserves to be as we would not be where we are today without him.” Congratulations Peter!

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Dec 2007
The finalists of The Learning Trust Educators’ Awards 2008 have been announced- congratulations to Miss O'Reilly for being shortlisted for Outstanding New Teacher of the Year! The awards ceremony will be on Monday 25 February 2008 at The Tower Hotel, London. GOOD LUCK!

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Dec 2007
Woodberry Down on Channel 5 News - 11 Dec 07
We were excited to be asked to appear in this Channel 5 news item. It followed the announcement about the ‘Children’s Plan’ by Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls. The ‘Children’s Plan’ is a long term vision to improve schools and a step-change in the way parents and families are supported to deal with the new challenges faced by young people in the 21st century. You can view it here.

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October 2007
We were delighted to be featured in an article in the TES about the Get Hackney Reading campaign. You can read it here. You can see the photo here.

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October 2007
Woodberry Down teachers, children and parents appear in a Channel 4 Dispatches programme - October 22nd, 2007 - 8:00pm   SEE PHOTOS HERE

Why Our Children Can't Read
Lost for Words, the childhood literacy season on Channel 4, begins with a Dispatches investigation into why so many of Britain's children can't read. According to Government statistics, a fifth of youngsters leaving primary school can't read and write properly.

Reporter Alex Thomson investigates how this failure has come about and shows that with the right teaching methods virtually every child in mainstream schooling can be taught to read. Focusing on the effectiveness of the various methods currently employed to teach children to read, Thomson also explores the wider societal impact of poor literacy rates.

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September 2007
School launches new scheme of work and accompanying website about the world’s first black cycling champion. Marshall Taylor (1878-1932) was the second-ever black athlete to be a world champion. And long before Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and the Williams Sisters - but few have ever heard of him. Congratulations to Year 6 for their excellent work on this project. "Major Taylor’s remarkable story really grips youngsters and opens their eyes to a significant period in history. We're delighted to see new life breathed into Major Taylor's legacy. These lesson plans offer effective teaching tools to build students’ skills for discovering and thinking critically about the life and times of the 1899 world cycling champion, who faced powerful racial prejudice. The materials on young car racer Lewis Hamilton help make the history relevant to today’s world."
Lynne Tolman (Major Taylor Association)
You can find out more at www.marshalltaylor.co.uk

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September 2007
On 7 September 2007 Ed Balls MP (Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families) and Kitty Ussher MP (Economic Secretary to the Treasury) visited school today to make an announcement about personal finance education linked to Child Trust Funds.

They observed Year 1 in a very exciting personal finance lesson and said they were very impressed with what they saw. In fact, it was described as being the kind of lesson that was ‘leading the way’. In an interview with the Hackney Gazette, Mr Balls said, "We’ve come along today to see what the school is already doing in terms of teaching maths. Woodberry Down is known for being ahead of the game on this and we can learn from what is happening here in this school and use it to lead not only Hackney but primary and seconmdarey schools across the country." You can read the article here.

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May 2007
We are very proud that one of our recent projects has been chosen by the DfES as the UK example of ‘innovative and inspiring practice in the field of education’. One of our case studies has been taken to the 22nd Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education (4-5 May 2007) in İstanbul, Turkey. Education ministers from the 49 signatory states of the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe will attend.

Our project concerns the work we did last summer in connection with Beverley Naidoo’s incredible novel, The Other Side of Truth. The novel is about two Nigerian refugees who suddenly have top flee their country. It is set during the rule of Nigerian dictator, General Abacha.

Each child's right to high-quality teaching, measures to promote an inclusive education including for socially and culturally excluded people, education for democratic citizenship, and developing a better understanding of today's multicultural society are all issues that will be addressed over the two days.

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April 2007
Year 6 to star in new TV show!
Mr Wallace’s literacy group will feature in a new Channel 5 show. Our children are in a
spelling competition against young adults… Who will win? Watch to find out! The show is due out in Autumn 2007.

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April 2007
SAM Learning offers a comprehensive online test practice and revision service for Primary Schools. SAM stands for Self-Assessment Method, a uniquely powerful learning methodology based on exam practice and self-marking that's proven to raise achievement in schools.
One of the key features of this service is that it can be accessed from virtually any computer with Internet access - and other schools who use it report significant usage outside the core school day. SAM Learning Primary usually costs home users £99.99 per year (per child), but our children now have unrestricted use of this service totally free of charge. 
SAM Learning won a BETT Award (2007) for ‘Supporting Institutional Leadership and Management’.

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March 2007
The school now has a Virtual learning environment. Click the 'Our VLE' link from the homepage.
For children
This means you can join the site, leave messages and chat! You can also do work linked to your school lessons. The site has just started - but please join!

For teachers
A Virtual learning environment (VLE) is a software system designed to facilitate teachers in the management of educational courses for their students, especially by helping teachers and learners with course administration. The system can often track the learners' progress, which can be monitored by both teachers and learners. While often thought of as primarily tools for distance education, they are most often used to supplement the face-to-face classroom.
Components of these systems usually include templates for content pages, discussion forums, chat, quizzes and exercises such as multiple-choice, true/false and one-word-answer. Teachers fill in these templates and then release them for learners to use. New features in these systems include blogs and RSS.
At Woodberry Down our first year of the VLE will primarily see us making it an online J drive.

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March 2007
STAFF VISITING SCHOOLS IN TORONTO, CANADA
From 18 March, for a week, five members of staff will be visiting ten schools in Toronto. The visit is an new and exciting part of our training programme for staff and we are looking forward to hearing about what they have seen. Hopefully the visit will result in a few really good ideas that we can use at Woodberry Down to further improve the quality of education here. The trip has been paid for by the League for the Exchange of Commonwealth Teachers. The staff going are Miss Mather, Miss Kent, Miss Brown, Roselyn and Peter.

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February 2007
School is shortlisted for 'Educational Establishment of the Year' at the Education Resources Awards 2007
National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham
23rd March 2007

Now in their ninth successful year, The Education Resources Awards highlight the quality and diversity of educational products and resources, excellent educational establishments and the most dedicated members of the teaching profession and supplies industry, all working together to encourage the very best in education.
 
The Awards are organised by Affinity Media and the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA). They are sponsored by Berol, GLS Educational Supplies, Select Education, and The Times Educational Supplement.
 
The awards are supported by the National Association of Head Teachers, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, and UK Trade & Investment.

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February 2007
School featured in new London education magazine
The school is featured in a new education magazine for London schools. ‘London InstEd’ is a magazine from the Institute of Education (University of London) for people who work with children and young people in London. It aims to share the results of research as well as looking at the wider issues which affect people working in education settings. As well as an article, we are on the front cover! You can view the entire magazine online at www.ioe.ac.uk or download our article by clicking here.

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February 2007
On 23 February 2007 an advert will appear in the TES (Times Educational Supplement) to celebrate schools (including us!) gaining the Leading Aspect Award. You can view the advert by clicking here.

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February 2007
The Secretary of State has decided, after consulting English Heritage, that Woodberry Down Community Primary School should become a Grade II listed building. Reasons include:
• the school was the first permanent primary school to be built in London after World War II
• the mural on the stairs from the infants to juniors - we now know that this mural is
called ‘Scraffito’ and was created by Augusts Lunn. It was made for the Festival of Britain and—after the festival—was moved to Woodberry Down.
The school is described as a ‘well-surviving and architecturally significant school… quality detailing and the integral Festival of Britain mural… one of a small group of non-prefabricated schools that illustrates the capital’s post-war approach…’
We are delighted that the school building’s significance has been recognised.

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January 2007
Year 6 go to a unique UK premiere of the new film version of ‘Charlotte’s Web’
On Friday 2 February 2007 Year 6 (and 25 competition winners) went to a special UK premiere of the new film version of ‘Charlotte’s Web’. The film went on general release in the UK 9 Feb 2007 so our children had the unique experience of seeing a film before anyone else in the country had seen it. And they loved it! And they cried too… Click here to find out more!

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January 2007
We are delighted to announce that the school has won a national award called the Leading Aspect Award. This award celebrates and recognises very good practice in schools. Woodberry Down’s award is for highly effective systems and practices to mark children’s work. Congratulations to all staff—and children- who have helped to make this possible. The school will be attending a national conference in the summer to share our work with a wider audience.

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December 2006
School to lead workshop at the 2nd Chartered London Teacher's Conference. Click here for more details.

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December 2006
Mr Wallace and two Year 6 pupils speak at a conference at the Oval Conference Centre. They talked about the school's work to promote race equality. The conference title was 'Partnerships in Practice: Understanding ethnicity and identity'

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October 2006
Year 6 perform the UK premiere of a new play from America about Martin Luther King.
The performances were outstanding. In all the children did three performances–
one to other children on our school, one to children from neighbouring schools and one to parents. One member of the audience was Maud Blair, Head of the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service in Hackney. After watching the performance she wrote to Mr Wallace:

“Thank you once again for inviting me to your school play. You were quite
right – it was, in my opinion, not only very good, I thought it was brilliant.
The pupils were so good and so convincing that I was brought close to tears on several occasions. Thank you again. It was such a treat. Some great leaders for us to be looking out for in the future!” Click here to find out more.

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October 2006
Woodberry Down staff will be joining leading experts in the field of refugee education during a conference at the Institute of Education on 14 December 2006. Click here to download the conference programme.

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October 2006
Estyn (the Welsh HMI) visit to observe the teaching of reading. Estyn's visit was in connection with a similar review into the teaching of reading as happened in England with the Rose Review.

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September 2006
A one day Ofsted inspection of Modern Foreign Languages finds that the leadership and management of MFL are outstanding.
"The leadership and management of the subject by the senior team are outstanding. Planning for the implementation of modern languages has been extremely well considered. Strategic plans have the enthusiastic support of the whole school and the school has a very clear rationale for the staged introduction of the subject and has identified training needs and development for all who are to be involved. Very careful thought and planning has been given to the sustainability of this new curriculum area. Systems for monitoring are used very effectively across the school..."

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August 2006
Beverley Naidoo's response to our work on 'The Other Side of Truth'.
“I loved meeting the children at Woodberry Down and experiencing their enthusiasm about reading a story that reflected something of the world they know. The quality of their work around The Other Side of Truth is outstanding! The way the children have engaged with the novel so creatively and thoughtfully is also a tribute to the way their teachers have ‘led’ them into the story through such a lively cross-curricular approach. How I would have loved to join them on their ‘detective’ journey from Victoria Station to the ‘London College of Art’ on the Number 36 Bus! Perhaps that will also have inspired new stories of their own… as indeed any bus journey can if you listen and look carefully enough. Many congratulations to readers and writers, young and old, at Woodberry Down… and let’s continue to read and write the world!”

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June 2006
Award-winning author, Beverley Naidoo, visited the school on 23 June 2006 to talk to children in Years 5 and 6 about her life, work and ‘The Other Side of Truth’. We sold some of Beverley’s books to children prior to her visit and well over 70% of the children excitedly bought books and were able to have them signed by the author. Beverley, as we expected from her books, was truly inspirational. She said that the school’s work was amazing and that she didn’t often go to schools that approached things like we do. Beverley even asked if we could send her one of the children’s finished exercise books about ‘The Other Side of Truth’ (because she really liked our approach) and if she could link her website to ours. It was a wonderful day that we won’t forget. www.beverleynaidoo.com

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May 2006
Woodberry Down earns a place on the national/international register of schools providing ICT support services to other schools – the ICT register. This unique database captures ICT and eLearning expertise in cutting edge schools and learning centres across the world.
Click here for more information.

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April 2006
In January 2006 the school website was submitted for the EduNET Choice Award. We are delighted to announce that the application has now been reviewed by EduNet editors who said, 'Congratulations, we are pleased to offer you the EduNET Choice Award which is bestowed upon sites that "provide and maintain valuable educational content". You will be linked under the category "previous winners and other useful links" and "schools" directory.'

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April 2006
Article published in the Hackney Gazette about the various awards won by the school in recent months. To read, click this link.

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March 2006
Article published in The Economist describing the school's approach to teaching reading.
To read, click this link.

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March 2006
The final version of the Jim Rose Reading Review - 'Independent review of the teaching of early reading' is published. Woodberry Down was one of 31 schools visited by HMI or members of the review team. You can read the report here.

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March 2006
Peter Passam, Chair of Governors, wins Governor of the Year award at The Learning Trust Awards, Hackney Empire. Mr Wallace wins the School Leadership (primary) award.

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March 2006
Mr Wallace won the award for Leadership in Teaching at BESA's Education Resources Awards, part of the Education Show, on Friday 10 March.

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February 2006
SCHOOL REACHES SHORTLIST FOR THE EVENING STANDARD SCHOOL AWARDS
We are delighted to announce that we have made it to the shortlist of this year’s Evening Standard school awards. Five schools are on the list in our category. This is a great achievement for us.

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February 2006
On 9th February Mr Wallace, Lowell McElfresh (ING Barings Bank) and five Year 6 children attended the first Inspire Awards at Shoreditch Town Hall. Inspire is the new education/business partnership for Hackney. We won the awards for:
- Outstanding Corporate Partnership (ING Barings and Woodberry Down)
- Outstanding Primary School

Lowell collected the Outstanding Corporate Partnership award and Ozgur collected the Outstanding Primary School award.

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February 2006
Cambridge Education film a range of the school's work in preparation for a new CE training DVD on the Every Child Matters agenda.

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January 2006
School gains Investor in People status. Click here for more details.

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January 2006
The Learning Trust start the consultation process to find out your views in relation to expanding the school to a 3 form entry school.
Go to http://www.learningtrust.co.uk/consultations to find out more.

Tell us what you think by visiting our weblog on the subject.
Click here to go to the school weblog about making the school bigger.

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7 December 2005
Chief Inspector brands three Hackney schools ‘excellent’

Three Hackney Schools were today branded excellent schools by David Bell, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools, in his annual list of outstanding schools.

Clapton Girls’ Technology College, Woodberry Down Community Primary School and Stormount House Special School were identified as outstanding following their inspections in 2004/05. Schools on the list stand out as being extremely effective because they provide an excellent or very good quality of education across the full range of their work and pupils are achieving well.

Alan Wood Chief Executive of The Learning Trust said, “Once again thanks to the hard work of Headteachers and all staff, Hackney schools are being recognised for their excellence.”

Woodberry Down was one of only six schools in England now regarded as an outstanding school but which had previously been subject to special measures, had serious weaknesses or been designated by inspectors as underachieving.

Congratulating Woodberry Down David Bell said: "I would like to highlight the remarkable achievement of Woodberry Down Community Primary School in going from serious weaknesses to outstanding success."

Peter Passam, chair of governors said, “This is truly a credit to the staff, children, parents, Governors and everyone else that works with the school. They have worked tirelessly since the school amalgamated back in 2001 and have finally received recognition for their tremendous efforts.

“This accolade would never have been possible without the exceptional leadership of our Headteacher Greg Wallace. Ofsted are right to describe him as "inspirational". Greg leads by example, supports everyone at the school. And he’s not afraid to make the tough decisions that lead to improvements and make a real difference to so many children's lives.”

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December 2005
The school was featured extensively on BBC Radio, News and News 24. The reports were all in relation to our work to improve the teaching of reading by using synthetic phonics. The school was featured as an example of good practice in this area.

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November 2005
Refugee Unit at DfES publish our case study. Go to http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/ethnicminorities/raising_achievement/asylumseekingandrefugeechildren

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October 2005
School website wins 'Award for Excellence' for October 2005 from www.theteacherscorner.net

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September 2005
HMI to visit school in October as part of the government review into the teaching of reading. The school's work was 'commended' to HMI, thus the visit. 100% of lessons seen were graded 'outstanding'.

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September 2005
Diane Abbot, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, visited the school at the end of September. In a follow up letter she said we had 'the best school website in Hackney', were 'obviously doing some very good work' and that she was 'particularly interested in the phonics work' we were doing.

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September 2005
The Refugee Unit at the DfES request a case study on our work with refugee children.

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August 2005
QCA's 'Innovating With Geography' site decide to link part of their website to our own site- the tsunami geography unit written by geography co-ordinator Matt Wallis and Headteacher Greg Wallace.

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July 2005
Article in Evening Standard celebrates the school's Ofsted report. (Visit the Ofsted page of this site for more details.)

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June 2005
The school hosts a huge programme of events for Refugee Week 2005. Featured in Hackney Gazette.

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June 2005
The school's Ofsted report is published. The report reflects the amazing place the school has become since amalgamation in 2001.
The schools main strengths (there are no areas of significant weakness) are:

Pupil achievement is very good throughout the school.
The headteacher is an inspirational leader and is very well supported by his deputy, his senior teacher and other key staff.
Teaching and learning are very good throughout the school.
The personal development of pupils is very effective and results in very positive attitudes towards school and good behaviour.
The curriculum is very carefully planned and very well enriched by a range of interesting activities. All pupils are fully included in the life of the school.
Provision for pupils with special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language is very good.
All pupils are very well cared for and both pastoral and academic support is highly effective.
The school works very well with parents and links with the community are very strong.

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Nov 2004
School organises and hosts huge Diwali celebrations to widespread accalim from parents, children and the wider community. Diwali musical performance featured in local paper, the Hackney Gazette.

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May 2004
Peter Theodule, one of our classroom assistants, appeared in a BBC documentary about different jobs in education.

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March 2004
Marco Ramsay, Year 6 Teacher, wins the Outstanding New Teacher of the Year award. WELL DONE MR RAMSAY!

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March 2004
Marco Ramsay, Year 6 Teacher, is declared a finalist for the 'Outstanding New Teacher' award in the Learning Trust Educator Awards 2004.

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Feb 2004
Year 6 children appear on CBBC's 'Crush' a children's dating game show!

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