Sir Jim Rose, who was the director of inspection for Ofsted and is now an educational consultant to the government, was invited to the Lavington Park Federation of schools by their headteacher Helen Martin.

He spent the day talking to children in both schools and joining in some of their activities.

"I met him at a conference, where I had been invited as the primary representative of the Geographical Association," said Mrs Martin.

"The conference was discussing the potential changes of the Primary Review, and it gave me the opportunity to ask Jim to visit my schools.

"He is always very keen to discuss current practice with children, parents, teachers and heads."

She added: "It was a wonderful opportunity to talk about children's learning experiences with Jim, and hopefully support many of his thoughts on a slimmed-down connected curriculum that enables schools to
lead their own curriculum innovation.

"The staff here work very hard to ensure creative and memorable learning experiences for the children.

"Being a federation has supported our curriculum changes, as our joint training, discussion and ideas have enabled more changes to occur at a faster pace."

Mrs Martin said that her schools were proud of their 'creative connected curriculum' where both schools were involved in the same topic which involved changes to the classroom environment, the outdoor spaces and the rest of the school buildings as linking to the topic.

"The infant topic of 'Lets Build it' has taken over Graffham Infant School, with many children creating their own structures inside and
outside the classroom," said Mrs Martin.

"Duncton CE Junior School, where Sir Jim later joined in with the whole school lesson on mask-making for Greek theatre, is adorned with a huge statue of Zeus and with Greek pillars in the classrooms, the library and the hall."

After the meeting Sir Jim told the Observer: "We were very impressed by the quality of the learning and the excellent relationships in both schools.

"The head, the staff and the parents deserve great credit for what is being achieved."


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