Harvills School in West Bromwich wins excellence award

Jun 10 2008

HARVILLS Hawthorn Primary School in West Bromwich has won a Centre of Excellence award for its innovative approach to assessment and its dedication to pupil development.

The award, introduced by the qualifications and assessment specialist Education Development International, recognises the school for its consistently improving results and success in transforming the way pupils approach and view assessment.

Harvills Hawthorn Primary School has 360 pupils on roll from the age of three to 11, with a large catchment area that covers the Hilltop and Great Bridge areas of West Bromwich. It also serves the two Harvills Hawthorn council estates.

With many of its pupils coming from difficult areas and over a fifth being of a minority ethnic background, the primary school has made outstanding progress in nurturing its pupils and enabling them to improve, not just academically but also personally.

Over the past few years the school has excelled in raising standards, helped by its innovative approach to assessment. Indeed, its most recent SATs results place Harvills Hawthorn Primary School in the top 50 'most improved' schools in England.

Determined not to daunt its pupils with constant talk of SATs or assessment, the school has taken the innovative step of creating its very own terminology for tests.

SATs have been renamed 'West Broms' and any teacher found calling them by the old name is faced with a fine. A new school football has already been purchased from this pot of money!

The West Bromwich school has also developed a very open and relaxed ethos about assessment which has led to its EDI award nomination.

Pupils are encouraged to assess each other's work and to participate in peer discussions about how ways in which it can be improved. As a result, not only do they learn about each other's qualities and strengths but they develop strong citizenship skills.

Combining assessment and modern technology to ensure that its pupils are at ease with tests is also a key strength of Harvills Hawthorn Primary School.

Recognising that even the youngest of pupils enjoys working online, the school has implemented Goal, an online interactive assessment service, to measure a wide range of pupil knowledge and skill capabilities.

Every pupil at Harvills Hawthorn Primary School has his or her own learning log, containing not only the results of all their Goal tests but also all of their achievements and work throughout the year.

Everything that pupils need to demonstrate their learning is in this log and is self managed. As a result, the school is not only fostering a culture of independent learning but also, with the support of its teachers, encouraging pupils to take responsibility for their own learning.

Bob Woodall, Deputy Head of Harvills Hawthorn Primary School said: "Our school has gone from strength to strength in the past few years and we are thrilled to be nominated as a Centre of Excellence by EDI.

"We are proud of our innovative approaches to assessment and we believe that our use of ICT has contributed to this success. Using Goal has not only helped motivate our students to sit assessments but has also significantly reduced marking time and workload for our teachers, enabling them to concentrate on teaching rather than administration."