How Crays Hill's confounding the critics

4:34pm Monday 18th June 2007

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A SCHOOL which suffered from plummeting pupil numbers and high truancy figures is making a remarkable recovery.

Crays Hill Primary School made national headlines in 2004 because of its problems, and at one point had as few as 10 pupils showing up each day.

The Echo has now been given exclusive access to the school to see how things have improved after it ended a three-year media blackout.

The school roll is now rising, with 62 pupils - up from about 35 at its lowest level. There is also now more than one pupil from the settled community attending.

Staff say attendance levels have also improved from a low-point average of 75 per cent, and reports of as few as 10 to 15 children turning up each day - although they do not have the latest figures.

The primary school has even undergone a recent revamp, which pupils were involved in designing.

The threat of eviction may still loom for many pupils who live at the unauthorised Dale Farm site in Oak Lane, Crays Hill, but with the legal battle dragging on, children have "just got on and learned", according to staff.

Tracey Phillips, who provides special educational needs support, said: "We are going from strength to strength. All the pupils are enjoying their work and attendance levels have got better - and we hope they will remain steady.

"The whole school was consulted over, and involved in, the decision-making process of an ongoing renovation at the school.

"They used this experience for a project to create and design their vision of a school of the future."

She added: "This was an excellent opportunity for children to build on previous learning experiences and apply knowledge and skills learnt in other contexts. For example, while they were consulted about the up-grading of our school."

The project to create their vision of the school of the future was part of a display at the Essex Governors' County Conference.

Pupils also now use laptops and the internet for research. A new meals plan means pupils are all on healthy diets, with only locally produced organic food on the menu.

The renovation has included relocating the library and some office space to make room for the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service, which is using the school as a base, and increasing car parking and some landscaping. There are still few children from the settled community in Crays Hill going to the school, but Ms Phillips hopes numbers will continue to grow.