North West London

PRIMARY EDUCATION

but are given time to talk through and reflect on their behaviour, supported by peer mentors and our excellent learning mentor team. C) INCREDIBLE learning powers – we teach our children what it means to be a good learner through the acronym INCREDIBLE – inquisitive, nurturing, collaborative, resilient, enthusiastic, determined, independent, brave, limitless, expressive. In most lessons, one of the steps to success is an INCREDIBLE learning power. All children know this and are able to articulate how these learning powers will help them to be successful. As one child said recently “If you haven’t made a mistake, you haven’t learnt anything.” D) Supportive parents who believe in what we are trying to achieve and are always on hand to support the school systems. Our attendance figures have improved over the last four years and are now consistently at or above national average; this is because parents believe in our mantra “ Come to School Every Day” – knowing that we can only teach children if they are present. Leadership and management The 2017 Ofsted report attributed the Willow’s improvement to the quality of leadership and management: “The school has improved from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’ because of the high expectations, tenacity and ambition of senior leaders and governors.” We are a data-driven school and concentrate our efforts on systematically collecting and analysing data. These are then used to drive improvements across the school in many areas: teaching, progress, behaviour, attendance, to name but a few. No school can be outstanding unless leadership, at all levels, contributes to school effectiveness. We believe in distributive leadership and our middle leaders

Every child in year 4 learns to play a musical instrument

are as confident and competent talking about the school’s strengths, weaknesses and drive for improvement as are senior leaders and governors. Quality teaching and learning is developed and maintained through excellent professional development, which is systematically linked into performance management and school improvement priorities. We believe in “growing our own” staff and have an excellent relationship with TeachFirst and the Institute of Education (IOE). We encourage development at all levels, as evidenced by our current deputy starting her career with us as an NQT, an NQT starting as a teaching assistant and a former pupil at our school returning as one of our teachers. All our trainee teachers – whether TeachFirst, assessment only route or PGCE final placements – have passed their respective courses with “outstanding”. Staff are the driving force of an excellent offer and we value their contribution at every level of the organisation; that is why we are one of a very few living wage schools in London. While maintaining clear systems, we fit our school around the needs of our children. Our success lies in our commitment to making sure that no matter what challenges our children face, we never “give up” on them – ever!

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Our success lies in our commitment to making sure that no matter what challenges our children face, we never

“give up” on them – ever!

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39 THEWILLOW PRIMARY SCHOOL |