Minister praises achievements of ‘underachieving’ school

8:44am Saturday 5th July 2008

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A Government minister visited a Cricklewood school last week to celebrate pupils' achievements.

Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, met Year 11 pupils at Whitefield School, in Claremont Road, at its Record of Achieve-ment evening last Thursday, where each child was presented with a folder they had filled with certificates of academic and extra-curricular achievements.

Attending the ceremony were Mayor of Barnet John Marshall, Barnet Council leader Mike Freer and Barnet Labour group leader Alison Moore.

Headteacher Peter Blenkinsop said: "We wanted someone to come who the kids would remember and we were delighted that Mr Balls could make it."

The event came only two weeks after the announcement that Whitefield School will receive extra support and funding from the Government as part of its National Challenge initiative.

Despite achieving an outstanding Ofsted report this year, the school was targeted as one of 638 "underachieving" schools in which under 30 per cent of students attain five A* to C grades at GCSE, including maths and English.

Mr Blenkinsop has worked at the school for 25 years and is due to retire later this year to be the executive head of Fairfield School, in Bristol, and work with Barnet Council to help improve schools in the area.

He added: "People ask me what the key is to improving a school, and I tell them it is very simple. It is about focusing on teaching and learning, and on making lessons as good as they can be."