Primary school welcomes visit from South Yorkshire MP to discuss improvement plans

St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, in Dinnington, welcomed Rother Valley's Conservative MP, Alexander Stafford, for a visit on Friday, October 2.

Mr Stafford enjoyed a somewhat restricted tour of the school due to the new Covid-19 rules and met a small group of Year 2 pupils who quizzed him about his role within parliament and his political relationship with the Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Andrew Truby, executive headteacher of St Joseph’s, also explained the measures which had been implemented by the school to improve its current ‘special measures’ Ofsted rating.

“The children told Alex about the school and things they’ve been learning about and some of the improvements at St Joseph’s,” Mr Truby said.

"It was nice because we found that in their history topic they’re learning about kings and queens, and one of their key words was government so there was a picture of Boris Johnson in there as the Prime Minister.

"We explained that Alex’s role within the government and the decisions they have to make in terms of running the country then he showed the children a selfie of him and Boris Johnson together – they loved that and it fitted together quite nicely.

"We also showed him some of the things we’ve been working on, the new entrance area and the new mural about St Joseph’s. He’d also been to a Catholic school, he is Catholic so we were talking about Catholic education too.”

Mr Truby said that he also discussed Dinnington as a community and how the school can play a part in the work Mr Stafford does around raising aspirations in the area.

He added: “I was talking about how the school can be a driver for social change.

"At the moment both of the primary schools in Dinnington are in special measures and that’s really sad so what we want to do is create a great school at St Joseph’s so the children can access that, to not only influence the children and their families but the whole community too.”

It is hoped that Mr Stafford will now continue to visit St Joseph’s and that the school team can work by his side to achieve this overall goal.

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