Draft:New Hinksey Church of England Primary School

New Hinksey Church of England Primary School is a Church of England voluntary controlled primary school in Oxford, United Kingdom. The school was founded in 1870, and is housed in historic buildings dating from the late nineteenth century. Since 1948, the school has maintained by Oxfordshire County Council and is voluntary controlled by Oxford Dioscean Board of Education. It is now the smallest primary school in Oxford it is known for its small size and focus on multicultural education.

History
New Hinksey School was the first school in South Oxford, originally educating children up to the age of 14 years. The school was founded in 1870 within the Church of St John the Evangelist, and in 1872 purpose-built classrooms were added. Further buildings were added: an infant school in 1887; and a new boys' school in 1892.

The school was divided in 1926 into a mixed junior and infant department, and a mixed senior department but in 1952 these were merged again into one school with a single department. In 1962 the school was re-organised into a junior school and infant school, and was mixed.

Following the Plowden Report of 1967, Oxford City opted for a three-tier education system, with first schools for 5-8 year olds; middle schools for 8-12 year olds; and upper schools for 13-18 year olds. New Hinksey thus became a First School, with a nursery class, catering for children age 3 to 8 years old, and was renamed New Hinksey First School. After completion of education, children transferred to the middle school at St Mary and St John in East Oxford.

In June 1996, the school was inspected by HM Inspectorate of Schools and judged to need to be subject to special measures because it was failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education, and it was reported at that time that there was under-achievement in the basic skills of literacy and numeracy, weak teaching, unacceptable classroom behaviour with pupils bullying each other and swearing, and too much lesson time being spent on discipline rather than teaching. The headteacher, Adrian Townsend, stayed on and he alongside the governors instituted an action plan, which included introducing weekly sessions for all pupils where they talked through "cold prickly feelings" and parents were invited to take part in a programme to help them discuss feelings and emotions with their children. In March, 1998, Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) judged that the school no longer required special measures, and the school was praised by an Ofsted inspection in 2001, and was lauded for its excellent provision for families from a traveller background; leadership and management was judged to be very good and the quality of teaching was judged to be good overall. The headteacher, Adrian Townsend, was invited to a reception at the House of Commons to celebrate his school's success, and at this reception, he dramatically handed in his resignation to the then Minister of State for School Standards, Estelle Morris in a highly public protest at the school's treatment by Ofsted. Townsend was critical of the government's education policy, including writing a letter to The Times criticising primary school funding.

Following the introduction of the national curriculum three-tier education was increasingly challenging, and in 2003 the school became a primary school with foundation unit serving children age 3 to 11 years old, and after completing their schooling at New Hinksey, pupils transfer to a local secondary school. This increased the size of the school from 150 pupils to 180 pupils, and a new prefabricated classroom was added to house the additional class.

A new headteacher, Charlotte Haynes, was appointed in 2003, as the school transitioned from a first school to a primary school. Results and standards have improved since Haynes took over the leadership of the school.

Diversity and inclusion
The school values ethnic diversity, and puts a lot of emphasis on celebrating being a diverse, multicultural community. The school won the Equality and Diversity Award from Oxfordshire County Council in 2008, in which judging was carried out by a panel of children from a number of different ethnic communities, who set the awards' criteria themselves. The school has pupils from all of the world’s major religions. As of 2015, just over a half of the pupils were White British, and speak English as their first language, with the remaining pupils coming from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. As of 1998, 11% of the pupils came from a traveller background, residing at the nearby traveller site. The Ofsted report in 2019 comments that the "'strong emphasis on spiritual, moral, social and cultural development celebrates the rich cultural diversity within the school community well", and the full Ofsted inspection in 2015 commented that "Discrimination in any form is not tolerated in school. Pupils from all backgrounds and abilities are fully included in all school activities and are provided with equal opportunity to achieve their best. Staff ensure that those pupils who face particular challenges are supported to make good progress." The Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) report in 2019 found that New Hinksey was a "highly inclusive school where everyone celebrates difference and everybody is treated with dignity and respect". This report also added: ''The school is a welcoming place where everyone, regardless of their background, feels included. Pupils speak feelingly about how it is important to ‘treat everyone with respect’. This is why they enjoy their RE lessons. They enjoy being able to learn about different faiths and see these lessons as a place where they can explore each other’s differences and similarities.''

As of 2023, 15.5% of pupils are entitled to free school meals.

Faith basis
Following the Education Act 1944, the school opted to become a voluntary controlled school, meaning that the local authority took control for the school, with a charitable trust continuing to own the land and buildings, whilst the local authority employs the school's staff and has primary responsibility for the school's admission arrangements. This means that the church has less influence on the school compared to a voluntary aided school.

A quarter of the school governors are appointed by the Oxford Diocesan Board of Education, including the incumbent of the Church of St John the Evangelist New Hinksey (currently The Rev Fr Thomas Fink-Jenson) being an ex officio school governor.

The school is equally open to children of any faith (including no faith), and neither church attendance nor baptism plays any part in the school's admission arrangements. The school has pupils who follow Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist faiths.

The school is inspected every five years for a Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS inspection) which assesses whether the school has a distinctive Christian vision. It last had a SIAMS Inspection in 2019, this found that the school's "vision is not understood by all to have its roots in the Christian faith", and that "pupils are unclear how the values of the school, discussed during collective worship, are distinctively Christian". It goes on to say that "there is little in the environment to show that the school is a church school", "the school does not perceive itself as being distinctively Christian", and "pupils’ experience of Anglican traditions, like the children’s belief in God and Father, Son and Holy Spirit is limited".

The SIAMS Report comments on assemblies are "enjoyed by pupils. They see it as a time when ‘we can all be together and be quiet’", and that assembly "seeks to be inclusive at all times. Where prayer is used, pupils are invited to join in or to reflect on the messages that have been discussed. Pupils are respectful of each other’s beliefs and all feel that these times are relevant to them. Pupils enjoy the use of stories within collective worship. These are sometimes, but not generally, biblically based."

The school's land and buildings are held in trust by New Hinksey Church of England School and School House Oxfordshire, a charity registered with the Charity Commission (registered charity number). The trust has two trustees, the incumbent of the Church of St John the Evangelist New Hinksey (currently The Rev Fr Thomas Fink-Jenson), and the Archdeacon of Oxford (currently The Venerable Jonathan Chaffey, CB). This charitable trust was formed on 4 April 1871, which according to its conveyance has the object to provide education for children and/or adults "of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes" in the parish of South Hinksey with New Hinksey.

Headteachers

 * Adrian Townsend
 * Jenny Lee 1999-2003
 * Charlotte Haynes 2003-2023
 * Tamsin Smyth 2023-present

Staffing
The current teaching staff are:
 * Tamsin Smyth - headteacher
 * Polly Hodgson - Early Years Foundation Stage teacher
 * Mrs Helen Nash - Assistant Headteacher and Key Stage 1 (Year 1 & 2) teacher
 * Mr Joe Wilson - Year 3 & 4 teacher
 * Mrs Rachael Tucker - Year 5 & 6 teacher (part time)
 * Dr Claire Shorrock - Year 5 & 6 teacher (part time) and mathematics lead
 * Mrs Emma Clarke - Specialist Music and Drama teacher and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Coordinator

The school is known for its very low staff sickness absence rate, having recorded a zero absence rate for four out of five years between 2005 and 2010. The headteacher believed this was because it was a small school, with a nurturing, caring ethos, and an emphasis on good work-life balance. The school has a stress reduction policy and occupational health service.

Buildings
In 2022, local Labour Party County councillor and school governor, Brad Baines called upon Oxfordshire County Council to completely rebuild the school as they are expensive to maintain and difficult to make accessible, but the response from Cllr Liz Brighouse OBE, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council indicated that the council had insufficient funds to allow this to happen.

At a meeting of the National Education Union in April 2023, a teacher at the school stated that there was raw sewage coming through the school from a broken drain, and he called upon the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, to come to clean it up.

Curriculum
Since 2010, the school has adopted a topic based spiral curriculum, where every term, the whole school studies the same broad topic, but at different levels.

The curriculum is enriched with a wide range of extra-curricular clubs and activities which have included Greek classes, Border Morris, board games club and eco club.