Achievement Award Sponsored by randstad education

WINNER: Atlas Primary School

An inner-city school that was told it had to seriously improve just a few years ago is now among the top five per cent of best-performing pri-maries in the country.

In 2007, Atlas Community Primary School, in Lincoln Close, Manningham, was told by government examining body Ofsted that it was on notice to improve after finding many aspects of the school were “inadequate”.

Many of the pupils only spoke English as a second language, and inspectors said their language development was weak.

Until recently the school suffered from vandalism and regular burglaries, and there was a period where staff regularly had to remove needles and discarded cannabis from the school grounds.

But the school has enjoyed a major turnaround – in the latest school league tables the inner city primary was ranked the eighth best in the district, with 94 per cent of pupils achieving level 4 in reading, writing and maths.

Head Caroline Carr said: “I’m absolutely thrilled we’ve won this award, and it is a testament to the hard work of everyone at the school.

“This was a very good result – it is really wonderful news. I’m very proud of the school and everyone in it. It is a privilege to accept this award and a privilege to work at a school which makes a difference in the lives of so many people. Everyone works so hard and that is what makes the difference.

“It is going to be so exciting to take the award in and show the children and staff. It shows that if they believe in themselves they can go on and achieve so much. That’s what we want at the school.”

HIGHLY COMMENDED Tong High School – Tong High School was named as an accredited delivery centre by the Construction Industry Training Board in November, and 72 students, aged 14 to 19, have now started studies across a variety of CITB Cskills Awards; Harden Primary School – The school was named as one of the country’s 200 best performers in last year’s SATs tests for ten and 11-year-olds. It was ranked third in Bradford district.