Upper Shirley High School
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Downing Street Visit!
Downing Street Reception
It was with great delight that I received the following invitation during the Christmas break:
Dear Ms Ellins
The Prime Minister would like to invite you to a reception at Downing Street to celebrate the achievements of some of the most improved schools in the country. The reception, for head teachers from primary and secondary schools, will be an opportunity to recognise the enormous difference that you and others have made to the lives of so many pupils. Educational standards have improved significantly over the last decade. In recent years your school is one of those which has improved the most.
The reception will take place at 10 Downing Street on Monday 11th January 2010, starting at 6.30 pm and finishing at 8.00 pm.
Thank you
Events Office
Downing Street
I of course attended on a very cold Monday evening, getting to Waterloo Station and excitedly saying to a taxi driver, “10 Downing Street please!” With other heads from across England I met with Gordon Brown, who wanted to thank us for the improvements to our schools. It was fascinating entering Downing Street and seeing the inside with history lining every inch of the walls! I was delighted to meet again with Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Schools, so soon after his visit to USH, especially as he had commended our work to the DCSF, asked us to contribute to a case study and talked about us to a large educational conference. I also met up again with Vernon Coaker, Minister for Schools.
I felt very privileged being invited to Downing Street but I am simply a representative of our school (staff, students and governors) and would like to thank them on behalf of Gordon Brown for all their work.
I will be writing in more detail next week to explain our results and put issues of CVA (contextual value added) into perspective.
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