Darfield Upperwood Primary School

Darfield Upperwood Primary School

Established	1973
Type	Primary school
Headteacher	Alistair Budd
Chair	Dr Carol Booth
Location	Dartree Walk Darfield Barnsley South Yorkshire S73 9NL England
Local authority	Barnsley
DfE URN	106600
Ofsted	Reports
Students	260
Gender	Mixed
Ages	4–11

Coordinates: 53°32′17″N 1°23′15″W / 53.53815°N 1.38754°W / 53.53815; -1.38754

Darfield Upperwood Primary School is a 4–11 community primary school located in Darfield, Barnsley, England. First opened on 5 November 1973,^[1] it is situated in an old mining community with changing patterns of employment. Most of the around 260 pupils are White British with a small number of settled Gypsy/Roma pupils on the roll.^[2] Its absence rate of 3.6% is notably better than the national average of 5.3%.^[3] Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council described it as "a good school with a number of outstanding features".^[4]

Award

Darfield is a Beacon School.^[5][6] Beacon schools are schools which have been identified as amongst the best performing in the UK and represent examples of successful practice which are to be brought to the attention of the rest of the education service.^[7]

Academic standards

This is a particularly well performing school with academic standards that are not only high but steadily improving.

In the Ofsted report, published in November 2006,^[2] the school was rated Good, point 2 on a four point scale, with the following aspects being assessed as Outstanding:

• How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being?
• The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage

The performance in English, Mathematics and Science are all above the national average but, notably, the trend has been above the national average for the last four year and well above for the last three.^[3]

Hansard

The School was complimented in the House of Commons on 16 December 2002 by The Minister for School Standards, David Miliband, who said "I know from my research for the debate that there is already a beacon school in Barnsley, Darfield Upperwood primary, whose outstanding performance has delivered a better education not just for its own pupils, but for other pupils in the area.".^[5]

Financial controversy

In March 2007 it was revealed by the Yorkshire Post that a special investigation by council auditors into the accounts at the school raised questions about the way it was using public money. Trips to Australia and Austria, stays in expensive hotels and the purchase of clothes for staff were among the items investigated. Though the Local Education Authority was happy that Mr Smith's motivation had been "totally genuine" and his intentions were "totally honourable", there was a request from the National Union of Teachers for a full independent inquiry.^[6][8][9]

Sport

In 2003 the School reached the finals of the Birmingham FA's annual Girls Football Festival.^[10]

References

1. ^ "Upperwood Primary School", Barnsley.gov.uk, 2003
2. ^ ^{a b} Ofsted report, 15 November 2006
3. ^ ^{a b} "Darfield Upperwood Primary School", League Tables, BBC News
4. ^ "Darfield Upperwood Primary – a good school with outstanding features", Barnsley MBC
5. ^ ^{a b} "16 Dec 2002 : Column 672", House of Commons Hansard Debates, 16 December 2007
6. ^ ^{a b} "Pressure forced authority to reveal bizarre spending", James Reed, Yorkshire Post, 26 March 2007
7. ^ "Beacon Schools in the UK", Department for Education and Skills
8. ^ "Inquiry urged over four-star spending at primary school", James Reed, Yorkshire Post, 26 March 2007
9. ^ "Union fury over primary school's 'lavish' travel and hotel spending", Daily Mail, 26 March 2007
10. ^ "Girl Power takes root", The Football Association, 14 July 2003