Schools of the Year

State Primary School of the Year 2011

Hampden Gurney C of E Primary School, Westminster

When Evelyn Chua took over at Hampden Gurney Primary School in 1997 it was struggling to attract staff and pupils. Attainment levels were low, behaviour was poor and parents showed little interest in their children's schooling.

"It was almost a failing school," says Chua. "We could only get supply teachers," recalls the Malaysian-born head, who immediately set about raising expectations and standards.

She brought in a new school uniform, introduced a house system to instil a sense of belonging among pupils and began to change the teaching and learning culture. "I remember the first year I lost so many teachers because they were not prepared to engage. I had huge problems with parents. It was really hard work."

Today, few primaries can match the exceptionally high attainment levels of this inner city London school, which received its second outstanding inspection report from Ofsted in 2009.

Hampden Gurney, just off the busy Edgware Road in the London borough of Westminster, is one of just four schools in England to get every one of its 11-year-olds to the expected standard in nationally-tested subjects in each of the past five years. The other three – South Farnham in Surrey, Manor Primary in Wolverhampton and North Cheshire Jewish Primary – are all previous winners of our State Primary School of the Year award which goes this year to Hampden Gurney. It is the only London school to have won this accolade since we first made the award in 2001.

The voluntary-aided Church of England school, established in 1863 in memory of the Rev John Hampden Gurney, is also one of only a dozen primaries in England to have gained perfect scores in level 4 attainment tests in both English and maths in each of the last three years, the new criteria by which we rank primary schools following the abolition of the science Sat in 2010.

The majority of the year 6 pupils who left this summer had reached the academic level expected of a 13-year-old (level 5) in maths (93%) and English (75%) while all of them were two years ahead of their actual age in reading. Attainment at level 5 has been rising steadily over the years as Chua, described by school inspectors as "inspirational", continues her drive to challenge pupils and help them get into good secondary schools. Last year, seven pupils got bursaries to fee-paying schools, including two who won full scholarships. Impressively, one of these two had only joined the school three years earlier from Germany and spoke no English when they arrived.

However, the school, which sits in 12th position in our new rankings, is about much more than just academic results and is understandably now heavily oversubscribed with pupils queuing up to get in, unlike the early days. "We were so low in numbers. I remember my reception class had seven pupils," says Chua. "Now we have 200 applications for 30 places."

There are waiting lists in every year group. Getting in here is not contingent on your address but being baptised in the Church of England and regular church attendance, a fact which must be verified by your parish priest. Parents go to great lengths to try to get their child in, from changing religion abruptly or attending church diligently months before admission forms are due in. Some parents have offered to donate money to the school while others hire lawyers to appeal when their application has failed.

A consequence of the school's geographical location and entry criteria is that pupils come from a wide range of backgrounds ranging from affluent areas around Hyde Park to the nearby council estate and they come with a wide range of abilities, from the very able to those with additional needs who account for about 17% of the school roll.

"The staff and I put in a lot of work," says Chua, who spends 50% of her time in the classroom. "We track them from an early age. It is not just chancing it when they get to year 6. It is making sure every year is important. We do not accept that anyone is not able to do well. We believe everyone can achieve, even those that come in with severe learning difficulties we make successful. We see potential and we tap into it and we look at every single child."

Chua makes a point of checking every pupil's work in maths, English and science every six weeks. "It has been so successful because I have been personally involved in their learning," she says.

With a constant flow of new teachers coming in – staying for an average of three years due to London's high living and travel costs – Chua relies on a core of staff and teaching assistants to help ensure new arrivals hit the ground running and that children are progressing as they should be. If a child is found to be regressing questions are asked, and, if necessary, teachers are given extra professional development training. "When I see children not achieving their potential it really affects me," says Chua. "That has been the key to the success of this school. I do not allow a child not to succeed because we have not done our job. I think my stand on education has actually filtered down to staff."

On their visit in 2009, school inspectors reported that "a key strength underpinning pupils' outstanding achievement was the excellent care, guidance and support the school provided for its pupils who were very clear about how to improve their work".

Teachers are also expected to be creative and dynamic. "The lesson needs to be exciting," says Chua, who uses in service days to motivate staff and inspire them to bring their classrooms alive.

Since all pupils started getting 100% in their Sats tests five years ago, the curriculum, which is underpinned by the school's Christian ethos, has expanded to include a greater focus in areas such as art, PE and regular creative writing sessions. The school set up an orchestra two years ago. "We were able to do all of this once we had laid the foundations," Chua says. There are more than 30 after-school clubs, from yoga to Mandarin, cricket and capoeira.

One of things that has made life and learning easier has been the £6m reconstruction of the school, affectionately known as the beehive. The futuristic glass-fronted building, which opened in 2002, literally brought a breath of fresh air with its play decks on each level along with state-of-the-art ICT rooms and a much-needed library, which Chua believes has been key in developing pupils' literacy levels to such high standards.

"We did not have a library before. It was a bookcase. I felt that the only way to get children to begin to read and write properly was to have books surrounding them. We started small, got parents to raise money." Now the library is the hub of the school and boasts 11,000 books. Chua still remembers the disruption and noise created during the construction of the new school which involved the 240 pupils and the staff being relocated into 10 mobile offices yards away from the building site.

"There were moments when morale was significantly low, especially from fluctuating temperatures in the temporary buildings, but staff and managers remained focused and channelled all our energy into teaching and learning."

Chua, who mentors other head teachers in London, while her staff help train middle leaders, hopes that the experience of Hampden Gurney will inspire other schools that face similar challenges.

"We started from rock bottom. Ten years ago who would have thought Hampden Gurney would be able to succeed at anything, but I believed it."

Not that Chua is resting on her laurels. "One can never say the job is done," she says.