12 December 2006

East Manchester primaries top table for performance

Two east Manchester primary schools are included in the top five in the Government"s performance league table. St Anne"s RC Primary School in Ancoats topped the table, while a mile down the road, Nicholas Varley Community School in Miles Platting came fifth, making them two of the "most improved schools" in the country, having made the most sustained improvement since 2003.

St Anne"s RC Primary School made a 173% improvement in English, mathematics and science over three years. On average there are 18 pupils in each class in this mixed sex, inner-city school.

St Anne"s improved by 127% in 2004 and 133% last year on their 2003 results, according to Department for Education and Skills (DfES) figures.  In science, the school beat the national average with 100% of 11 year olds achieving target level 4+ compared to 87% nationally, partly due to support given by the New East Manchester education team.

This was triggered by a staff campaign to drive up discipline, pride and academic standards by making the children believe they could do better.  Measures have included trying to get children to respect each other and more parental involvement. Parents have also taken part in conflict resolution classes, where they helped draw up peaceful solutions to problems and a school buddying system has supported children to handle conflict in a peaceful way.

Suzanne Walker, who has been headteacher at the school since 2002 and has driven forward the changes said: "Our ethos is to consider every individual child"s needs - socially, emotionally and academically.  We want to give every child every chance of a good education.  The staff are passionate about what they do, and about the children, which makes a real difference. We"re also fortunate to be able to benefit from the regeneration work going on in the area. We use the facilities at Sportcity, which is just down the road, and have the support of the New East Manchester education team which is fantastic."

Both schools have been supported by the New East Manchester education team.  Robert Hough, Chairman of New East Manchester explains how education is at the heart of regeneration: "This is excellent news and I congratulate both schools who thoroughly deserve this recognition for all their efforts and hard work over the last three years.  Improving education provision and performance is fundamental to the regeneration of east Manchester. Developing the skills of all our young people improves their life opportunities and allows them to make a real and positive contribution to their community. Our ambitious plans to improve the quality of education in east Manchester are clearly making a difference. We have made huge strides, raising attainment levels and giving all children the best start in life but we mustn"t be complacent and we still have a considerable way to go."  

Councillor Jeff Smith, Manchester City Council"s Executive Member for Children"s Services, said: "This is a tremendous achievement for both schools and will be a real boost to their efforts to get even better results next year.  The fact that they have managed to sustain year on year improvement is down to the hard work and dedication of staff, their commitment to improving standards and their enthusiasm and readiness to try new ideas in order to achieve this."

Steven Broomhead, NWDA Chief Executive, said: "Improving the provision of skills and education throughout the region is absolutely vital to regenerating our local communities and in creating employment opportunities for our young people. New East Manchester is helping to make a real difference in achieving these goals in East Manchester and it is great to see these schools receiving national recognition for improving their performance and achieving such high standards."

For more information visit www.neweastmanchester.com.

Ends

For further information contact Roz Hughes at New East Manchester on 0161 223 1155

Notes to editors

New East Manchester Ltd (NEM) is an Urban Regeneration Company - a partnership between Manchester City Council, English Partnerships and the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA).  It is NEM"s role to implement the Regeneration Framework, secure the required public and private funding, lead on specific major development projects as well as co-ordinate the range of regeneration and renewal initiatives in the area.

All the performance tables are available on the DfES website at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/performancetables