“We were in special measures. We had low staff morale, parents not happy with the school, results were poor and nobody wanted to come here, we had budget issues. It’s a downward spiral when you’re there.”
This is what Feversham headteacher, Naveed Idrees, told The Guardian. He continued:
“We could have gone down the route where we said we need to get results up, we’re going to do more English, more maths, more booster classes, but we didn’t. You might hit the results but your staff morale is gone, the kids hate learning. We want kids to enjoy learning.”
What the school did instead was to add six hours of music per week for every student, and the results have been stunning:
- The school is in the top 10% nationally for pupil progress in reading, writing and maths.
- 74% of its kids met the nation’s reading standard, higher than the national average of 53%.
- 74% of its pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, compared to a national average of 53%.
- Feversham students are 7.1 points above the national average for reading and 3.4 for writing.
- Feversham students are 6.5 points above the national average for math.
- The school’s results for disadvantaged pupils are well above average.
What makes this achievement so remarkable is the fact this school has everything against it.
[To read the rest of this article written by Justin Brown, click here.]
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