School celebrates consistent record of Ofsted success

Newby Primary School is celebrating its latest Ofsted inspection report which praises it for creating a friendly and caring environment in which children enjoy their education.

The school in West Bowling, Bradford, has been rated as good in its latest short inspection by Ofsted inspectors.

This means the school has consistently been recognised as being good or better in all its inspections since Ofsted first visited back in 2001. Before this Newby Primary had been recognised as a Beacon School, a status given to the strongest performing schools in the country by the Department for Education in the 1990s.

The new report praises the school and its leadership team for maintaining a good quality of education since its last inspection in 2013.

Inspectors found that children are happy and enthusiastic about their lessons and that staff enjoy working at the school.

It adds that the teachers “particularly value the way in which families are at the heart of everything” the school does.

Inspectors also said staff at Newby Primary School speak with pride and enthusiasm about their work. It adds: “One member of staff stated : ‘Staff go the extra mile for children at this school and I feel it is a strength that together we make a difference to pupils and families.’”

Ofsted praise the way in which the school effectively monitors the progress of pupils and for its work with other schools in the area to provide support in developing leadership skills.

Headteacher Janice Stephenson said: “The whole school is very pleased with this report which recognises how happy and well supported our pupils are. I think it shows the strength of the entire school community here that Newby Primary School has always been a good school but as the report makes clear we are still striving to improve.”

Coun Imran Khan, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Education, Employment and Skills said:  “Congratulations to everyone involved in this latest Ofsted success. It is pleasing to see Ofsted praises Newby Primary School not only for the quality of its education but also for putting families at the heart of everything they do. As our Education Covenant makes clear education is everyone’s business and schools can only be successful with the support of their community.”

Newby Primary’s Chair of Governors Jackie Walters paid tribute to “the dedication of school staff, governors and parents in achieving these great results and especially the amazing pupils who are an inspiration to us all.”

The Ofsted report marks the end of a very successful academic year for the school as Mrs Walters was awarded the Governor of the Year Award at the 2017 Bradford and District Teaching Awards in March, having given more than 25 years service to Newby Primary School.

Miriam Lord launch Radio Station

Parents and pupils can now tune into the school’s radio station which broadcasts three polish-speaking shows a day, with teaching assistant, Tomasz Turowski.

The show shares information and news with Eastern European parents, carers and pupils and can be heard in the playground.

Teaching Assistant, Tomasz Turowski who airs the show said:  I am excited about going on the radio and using my language skills to help parents who struggle with English to keep up with what is happening in the school.”

Headteacher, Bryan Harrison said:  “Tomasz’s Polish messages will mean our radio information reaches a wider audience.  We hope hearing the news in Polish will help more parents engage with the school.”

School pupils learn about the importance of Fairtrade Fortnight

Pupils from Baildon Church of England Primary School have been helping spread the word about Fairtrade and encouraging the community to get involved.

Year 5 pupils at the school, hosted a Fairtrade stall at Baildon Co-op to support Fairtrade Fortnight.

As part of their RE programme the Year 5 pupils undertook ‘The Young Leaders Award’ which is organised by the Archbishop of York Youth Trust.  The award aims to equip pupils with key leadership skills and give them practical opportunities to change their communities for the better as they ‘be the change they want to see’.

In the course of their studies, the children in Year 5 undertook a study of the Fairtrade organisation.

City Hall – Bradford’s Jewel in the crown

Bradford is an increasingly sought-after filming location and our very own City Hall could be described as the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the many fantastic filming locations across the district.

City Hall is a popular site for TV production companies and has been used to film some of the country’s best-loved soaps and popular dramas.  This year alone we have welcomed cast and crew from ITV’s soap opera, Emmerdale, Channel 4’s drama, National Treasure and most recently ITV’s drama, DCI Banks, starring actor Stephen Tomkinson, which filmed on 27 April 2016 in the Civic Reception Rooms.

(Picture above shows Stephen Tomkinson and co-star Caroline Catz outside the Reception Rooms during filming.

Bradford has been a popular film location since the beginning of cinema and showed some of the first film screenings outside of London at the People’s Palace, on the site where the National Media Museum now stands.  Many years ago the Bradford District was home to 56 cinemas and has been host to over 100 TV and film shoots.

The widely acclaimed 1959 film Room at the Top featured City Hall and it was reshot for a modern audience in 2010.  Other popular locations in City Hall are the Victorian courtroom, the civic reception rooms as well as the corridors and front steps.

Coronation Street filmed the famous murder trials of Gail MacIntyre and Tracy Barlow who both took to the stand in City Hall’s historic Victorian court rooms.

BBC1 drama, The Syndicate starring Lenny Henry was filmed in City Hall as was the ITV production, The Great Train Robbery, starring Oscar winning actor Jim Broadbent.

Filming crews not only descend upon City Hall, but many communities, landmarks and neighbourhoods across the district.  The city’s Crown Court was recently home to the BBC docudrama Moorside Project, a two part series airing this autumn about the disappearance of schoolgirl Shannon Matthews, starring award winning actress Sheridan Smith.

Len Palmer, City Hall’s Facilities Manager said:  “City Hall is a beautiful building and is a popular venue in the city to facilitate filming for popular TV production companies.  Filming at City Hall has merited national coverage – the benefits of which include positively promoting Bradford and adding to the region’s ever increasing rich filming heritage.”

Bradford City of Film
Bradford was the world’s first UNESCO City of Film.  Bradford has a long history associated with film and filmmaking dating back to the birth of cinema and has long been acknowledged by the film industry as a film-friendly city.  Bradford is a key location for film and TV production and further information can be found by visiting the Bradford City of Film website.

About City Hall
The heritage of City Hall dates back to 1847, when Queen Victoria signed a Charter of Incorporation which brought together the then-separate towns of Bradford, Manningham, Horton and Bowling as a single borough.

This expanded authority needed a council, and with the charter came the permission to elect a body of 42 councillors, 14 aldermen and a mayor. Their original home wasn’t at City Hall however.  It was on Swain Street, in Fire Station House.  This was Bradford’s first Town Hall, which remained in operation for more than a quarter of a century.

As the new borough grew, it quickly became apparent that a bigger, more “fit for purpose” building was required. Rather than simply plough ahead and commission a new home, the Council in 1869 took the rather forward-thinking decision to organise a competition for prospective designers and architects to submit their plans.

There were 32 entries received, and the winning design was judged to be that submitted by Lockwood and Mawson, a Bradford architect firm which was given the commission and contracted John Ives and Son of Shipley to build it on the present site.

It took three years to build, and the final bill was £100,000. The building was 70ft high and 275ft long, with a 217ft clock tower. It was officially opened by the Mayor, Alderman Matthew Thompson, in 1873.

But the borough and the Council continued to grow, and before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 the Town Hall had been extended several times – notably in 1909 when a new Council chamber, committee rooms and Banqueting Hall were built, and in 1914 when the entrance was redesigned and a staircase incorporated.

The next major development took place in 1965 when a £12,000 refurbishment and facelift took place.

Bradford became a city in 1897 and finally had the City Hall it is now so proud of.