School is proud to offer a welcome lesson to all (From The Bolton News)

School is proud to offer a welcome lesson to all

10:13am Tuesday 16th March 2010 in

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BOWNESS Primary School in Little Lever serves children from many different backgrounds.

It has an above average number of pupils from Gypsy Roma Traveller families; pupils from minority ethnic community; and the number of pupils with special education needs and/or disabilities is much higher than average.

Headteacher Peter Sturgess is proud of the “unique” school he leads and is quick to celebrate the diversity of his pupils.

At the same time, however, he is keen to stress that the children are pupils and his job is to ensure they receive the best education.

The school has now been commended by education watchdog Ofsted for the quality of education it provides to those groups.

Its report states: “Pupils with special educational needs and those pupils who are Gypsy Roma Travellers made good progress against their targets because of the consistently good levels of support they receive in lessons from teaching assistants.”

It added: “The Gypsy Roma Traveller pupils are valued members of the school community.”

The small size of the school — it only has around 100 pupils — means teachers have the time to spend with all children and organise extra “classes” if necessary.

Mr Sturgess said: “This is a small school and we can offer personalised learning. This can be in groups or one-to-one. We have a whole range of initiatives designed to help children address any issues they have.”

The school ensures resources geared to pupils’ individual needs are available.

For example, children from the travelling community have the use of laptops to ensure they do not fall behind with their studies when away from the area.

Mr Sturgess said: “At one time education was not important to the travelling community but over the years this has begun to change.”

He said that the diverse community of the school was one of Bowness’ strengths.

“The school community is a microcosm of real life. These are children of the 21st century and they will live in a diverse community and could find themselves working anywhere in the world.”

The report by Ofsted stated: “Pupils from different backgrounds get on well with each other in a close-knit community.”

Yet despite efforts to follow the Government’s Every Child Matters agenda, Bowness Primary School finds itself penalised year after year in the national school league tables for children’s absences and has been named among the 200 schools in the country with the worst record for persistent absence.

The headteacher says the figures take no account of the fact pupils from the travelling community by their very nature are sometimes likely to move on for a while, and other children have to miss classes because of specific needs.

And the small size of the school means one absence makes more of an impact on the figures.

Mr Sturgess said: “It shows that there is more behind the figures and do not give a representative picture of the school.

“They need to be put into context.”