Carlisle's James Rennie school praised for after-hours work

By Pamela McGowan

Last updated 12:51, Friday, 14 November 2008

A Carlisle school which specialises in helping children with learning difficulties achieve their full potential has received national recognition.

Headteacher Corinna Cartwright

The out-of-hours dedication from the team at James Rennie School, California Road, Kingstown, was highlighted at a prestigious Building on Success event in London.

Chaired by Elizabeth Reid, chief executive of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT), it celebrated the success of schools in England which offer activities beyond normal school hours.

James Rennie’s success was based on its work in the community. It runs up to 30 clubs a week including sports, wheelchair sports, computing, music, Duke of Edinburgh Awards and cooking. It provides family learning days, communication outreach programmes for mainstream pupils and agency meetings for vulnerable pupils.

The school received commendation at the conference, which was attended by Children’s Minister Beverly Hughes. It comes a month after it received a national Future Vision award, recognising the way students and teachers shared enthusiasm with visitors from the world of business and education.

James Rennie was said to be “leading the way in multi-agency working” and is now a good practice example for other special schools.

Headteacher Corinna Cartwright said: “All the staff at James Rennie School work so hard to make us a very special, special school.

“We were delighted to be recognised at a national level and hope that our extended services provision, multi-agency and community working go from strength to strength with this support.”