North West London

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW Highlighting best practice

to learn an instrument: piano, violin, guitar and drums – to name but a few. We also have a resident band called “The Lordship Rockers” who play at the “International Afternoon” and the summer fair. For the musical children we have provided them the opportunity to perform with other schools at the Royal Albert Hall and they performed there once again in June! Attendance is a key indicator of children enjoying school. Thus, ensuring attendance is consistently high has been a huge part of my role as head teacher at Lordship Lane. We have regular attendance competitions, rewarding those whose attendance is good. The impact has been vast; attendance figures now are at the highest they’ve been in five years. I believe very strongly in distributed leadership. Since taking on the role at Lordship Lane, I have insisted on the very best training for staff. The school’s previous Ofsted report highlighted the need for middle leaders to undertake a bigger role in the leadership of the school. Since starting in Wood Green, I have worked tirelessly to ensure we have a programme for middle leaders which enables them to be accountable for their area within the leadership of the school. Leaders train other staff within the school and have also been responsible for supporting leaders in other schools across the borough. They hold their teams to account and ensure that they are doing the best for the children in the area they are responsible for. Indeed, much of the governance of the school comprises the leadership team. The governors at Lordship Lane are extremely supportive and provide challenge to all the leaders in order to ensure the best possible chances for the children.

Children’s questionnaires highlight how happy they are at school on a daily basis

The mutual respect between staff and children is something quite special at Lordship Lane. The senior leadership team are responsible for mentoring some of our most vulnerable children weekly and all members of staff care deeply about the life chances of the children under their care. I have found that the children at Lordship Lane are incredibly good at running their school, and will often take new opportunities with both hands and give everything their all! Another important aspect to the work we do at Lordship Lane is ensuring that the children are given every possible opportunity to showcase their individual skills. We have a debate team who compete against other schools in London and we run a half-termly speaking competition for children from reception to year 6. In this latter activity, children are encouraged to speak about something which interests them for two minutes. Winners are judged by a panel that includes the head boy and girl. We now run music lessons for any children who wish “ Individuality and confidence

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The school curriculum and

extracurricular activities offer a wealth of opportunities for all children

24 | LORDSHIP LANE PRIMARY SCHOOL