Special achievement by Kidderminster school (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Special achievement by Kidderminster school

4:20pm Friday 11th December 2009

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PUPILS at a Kidderminster special school have matched the achievements of children in the mainstream and broken into the national league tables for SATs results.

Ian Hardicker, headteacher of Stourminster Special School, praised the efforts of his key stage 2 pupils.

He said: “I am exceptionally pleased with the SATs results. We performed so well academically that we were grouped with the mainstream schools.

“This is not normally heard of for a special school. It is very, very, rare. It has never happened in my career before.”

He added: “I am very pleased but not surprised by the results because they are a testament to the hard work of staff.”

Mr Hardicker explained that of the 12 pupils sitting the SATs four hit nationally expected standards while 75 per cent of pupils achieved their targets with “outstanding progress”.

In the SATs tables eight per cent of pupils at the Comberton Road-based school reached the expected standard in both English and maths.

A total of 42 per cent attained the expected level four in science, 17 per cent in English and 17 per cent in maths.

Mr Hardicker said pupils were outperforming targets throughout the school and that they had a 92 per cent attendance rate He added: “A lot of the children here had difficulties at previous schools and have often been good at not being very good.

“Our aim is to make them good at being good and to be successful - which they are. We won’t accept anything but the best.

“What that means is encouraging all pupils and showing them that they can do things. We have a ‘can do’ philosophy that permeates through every level of the school.”

The school has 108 pupils on its roll with a complex range of special needs including speech and language difficulties, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, emotional and social difficulties and moderate learning difficulties.

Mr Hardicker said: “The (SATs) results are very important to the children. It builds their self esteem, shows they have a value and raises their expectations for the future.

“We are very proud of our school and what we are doing. We have a cracking good team.”

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