Audenshaw school given "glowing" SIAMS report after receiving 93.3% SATs pass rate

An Audenshaw primary school has received praise following a Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) inspection.

SIAMS inspections aim to evaluate how a church school meets the needs of its pupils as a religious institution.

Last week, St Stephen's CE Primary School got their SATs results back with a 93.3% pass rate, which is 20.3% above the national average and 37.3% higher than the pupils' predicted grades at the beginning of the academic year.

Earlier this month, some parents complained they had seen a "drastic" change to school policies and values since the new headteacher came into post. However, the SIAMS report stated that school leaders "passionately believe everyone deserves the best start in life" and there is a "growing culture of hope, resilience and ambition" within the school.

The inspector also highlighted how the school's values help pupils to live "positive and productive lives".

The inspection findings read: "The biblical underpinning is aspirational and challenging. The school believes it is a reminder of God’s hope and reassurance, stating that by trusting in him, great things can be achieved.

"The vision and values inspire positive relationships within the school community. Leaders’ determination that pupils are treated with compassion and understanding, teaches pupils how to treat each other. Discussions rather than sanctions mean that relationships are respectful and honest.

"When pupils disagree, they learn that forgiveness and reconciliation are the best way to solve arguments. This restorative practice helps pupils understand and manage their feelings."

The new leadership team at St Stephen's Primary School recently revisited their values to ensure they were still relevant to the school and the Church of England's vision for education.

Headteacher Guy Lovgreen said the school has built three "simple, yet effective" school rules, based on educational research, to "be ready, be respectful and be safe".

The behaviour policy has remained the same but the philosophy has been adapted to focus more on building positive relationships and "not just sanctions".

This enabled the school to remove barriers for the children, in order to "help each child aspire and thrive", and they also seek to embed the restorative approaches to their policy, as these align with the strong Christian ethos at the school.

Mr Lovgreen said he brought about these changes due to his vision for education and beliefs in leading a school. He added: “At St Stephen’s CE, we always try to take time to talk to the children after events have happened and seek ways to amend any wrongdoing.

"Within the last school year, the school numbers are up, pupil absence and persistent absence are down and all but one class is oversubscribed.”  

He continued: “Whilst there are sanctions (and these are clearly written in our policy) the core position and emphasis we want to build on is to building positive relationships and respect.

"In much the same way that we as adults respond positively to people that we trust and respect-,so do children. To achieve this fully will take time and coaching with staff, but we are already well on that journey.

"It is harder, but they are crucial in a community of several hundred people. We have spent a lot of time in school coaching and supporting staff in thinking about how we do things more than what we do. The behaviour policy has not really changed – but how we take time and speak with the children and support them has, this is the key. We will all make mistakes in life and as educators our role is to always foster a culture of care, understanding, education and support to make better decisions in the future."

The recent independent SIAMS report confirms this is working, saying: "The school’s values and vision help pupils understand how to live positive and productive lives. There is a growing culture of hope, resilience and ambition at the school. Pupils are treated with compassion and understanding."

Leaders put the impact this year down to a particular focus this year on fluency as well as making assessment data impactful in teaching. Mr Lovgreen also said they have benefited from the links that Mr Roberts, the Maths Lead, has in particular.

He said: “At St Stephen’s we are proud of all our staff and whilst it’s hard to single anyone out, Mr Roberts has led the development of Mathematics for several years with great dedication. We have progressed our teaching style this year to a mixed ability teaching structure within classes to deepen the Mastery approach used by many schools.

"Mr Roberts is a former SLE and current Maths network leader. Our access to the highest quality mathematical practices and evidence-based approaches is helping not only the Y6 class but children right across the school. It is not about doing more work or using larger numbers, but about understanding each child’s knowledge and gaps and providing challenge and teaching to support them."

Mr Lovgreen said all schools have "concerns" around the chronic shortage of specialist support, particularly for behaviour and communication needs for students, and as the demands placed on schools change, the schools themselves must also change and adapt.

St Stephen's have worked "tirelessly" to "exceed [their] previous best efforts" which has been demonstrated through the support given to around 30 different charities this year.

Moving forward, Mr Lovgreen would like to "build on the uniqueness" of the school's offer and continue to be a school that can "challenge itself to seek out and find [its] marginal gains".

A themed "ASPIRATION" week is currently being planned for next year, in which students will undertake projects and activities to link to their future careers – new clubs and enrichment opportunities have also been organised for pupils throughout the next academic year, starting this September.

Two strong links with Manchester Metropolitan University and Edge Hill University have been established this year and enabled the school to support the next generation of teachers into the profession, at a time where the number of teachers is critically low.