Ellison Boulters School

Ellison Boulters Church of England Primary School is situated in Scothern, Lincolnshire, on Sudbrooke Road. It has around 260 pupils, and takes them mainly from the village of Scothern and the neighbouring villages of Langworth and Sudbrooke. In recent years, however, pupils have been accepted from some distance outside this three-village catchment area for which it was built, as a result of which a place at the school for local children is no longer guaranteed.

History

The school was built in 1988/89 (although the site had been earmarked for this purpose for many years) and opened in September 1989. The old Scothern and Langworth schools were closed by Lincolnshire County Council in July 1989 (two years after Scothern School's 150th anniversary) and the pupils transferred to the new school on Sudbrooke Road.

There was considerable controversy over the siting of the new school in the mid-1980s, the villages of Scothern and Sudbrooke each claiming to be the most appropriate place for the school. After months of disagreement, lobbying and legal challenges, a crucial vote of Lincolnshire County Councillors in March 1986 settled the issue and it was decided to go ahead with the original proposals for the Scothern site.

The formative years

The new combined school was fortunate in having an exceptional head teacher, Len Clarke, when it opened in 1989. He had been the head teacher at the old Scothern School for many years prior to its closure, and responsible for creating a first-rate team of teachers, with a reputation second to none in the area. He went on, together with deputy head John Dewis and an excellent teaching team, to create the extraordinarily firm foundations on which the new school was built. When Len Clarke retired, the school attracted another remarkable head teacher, Andy Craven. He continued the work started by the school's first head and between them they quickly established Ellison Boulters as the highest ranked primary school in Lincolnshire (and one of the most highly ranked schools in the UK) in the Department for Education and Skills performance tables.

Recent history

In recent years, however, whilst other local schools such as William Farr in Welton and those in Nettleham have improved their performance in the official Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) league tables, Ellison Boulters has fallen back in its relative performance. After the departure of the highly focussed and successful founding heads referred to above and since the arrival of the current head Jenny Wheeldon, the school's position in the performance tables and its results have fallen dramatically. Its aggregate score in the 2006 DCSF tables (see external links below) had fallen to below that of around 25 (50 in 2007) other primary schools in the county, and its value added score put it in the bottom quarter. Results have continued to deteriorate between 2004 and 2007, as shown by the table below, and whilst schools in Lincolnshire have improved their aggregate performance each year, Ellison Boulters School has achieved a lower outcome in each successive year.

Year on year comparisons

Aggregate of test percentages for Level 4 and above

Aggregate across the three core subjects: pupils achieving expected level or above

2004 300 (Lincolnshire 239) 2005 288 (Lincolnshire 243) 2006 280 (Lincolnshire 242) 2007 270 (Lincolnshire 246)

Aggregate of test percentages for Level 5

Aggregate across the three core subjects: pupils achieving above the expected level

2004 227 (Lincolnshire 102) 2005 167 (Lincolnshire 104) 2006 163 (Lincolnshire 112) 2007 145 (Lincolnshire 113)

Ofsted inspection reports

Although the 2001 Ofsted inspection report rated the school as "excellent" (commenting in its summary: "This is an excellent school that has many areas of strength and no significant weaknesses in any aspect of its work"), by the time of the 2006 Ofsted inspection (see external links below) the overall effectiveness of the school had become only "Grade 2 (Good)", and the report commented:

"Consequently, in some lessons, the work does not closely meet the needs of all learners, especially the most able. This explains why progress is generally good, rather than outstanding"

Two areas of improvement were also noted:

"Raise standards in writing by ensuring that pupils are able to use different styles of writing which are appropriate to the purpose.

Build up the use of assessment data to improve further the progress that pupils make."

External links

* [http://www.ellison-boulters.lincs.sch.uk/ School website]

* [http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?urn=120595&providerCategoryID=16 Ofsted reports]

* [http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/performancetables/ DCSF performance tables]