Heighinton CE Primary School is a voluntary controlled

Voluntary controlled school

A voluntary controlled school is a state-funded school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in which a foundation or trust has some formal influence in the running of the school...

 Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 primary school located in the village of Heighington

Heighington, County Durham

Heighington is a village in the borough of Darlington and ceremonial county of County Durham, England. It is situated between Darlington and Shildon, near Newton Aycliffe. One of its most significant features is St Michael's Church that sits in the middle of an exceptionally fine and large village...

, near Newton Aycliffe

Newton Aycliffe

Newton Aycliffe is a town in County Durham, England. Founded in 1947 under the New Towns Act of 1946, it is the oldest new town in the north of England.-Geography:...

, County Durham

County Durham

County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...

. It educates around 260 pupils

Student

A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...

 aged 4–11. It has a rural locality and has been assessed by Ofsted

Office for Standards in Education

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the non-ministerial government department of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools In England ....

 as providing an outstanding education. The Headmaster

Head teacher

A head teacher or school principal is the most senior teacher, leader and manager of a school....

 since 1995 has been Neil Parker.

Academic standards

The Ofsted report on the 22 May 2007 inspection, rating the school Outstanding, the highest possible assessment, said:
"This is an outstanding school where pupils excel in all they do. National test results in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

, and science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 over recent years show that pupils’ achievement is outstanding. A combination of outstanding leadership and management, highly effective teaching and learning and a very well planned curriculum and other activities that meet the range of pupils' interests underpins everything the school does."

This school has a well above average point score in English, Maths and Science. With English and Science at 100% pass Levels, and Maths at 97%. The average point score for recent examinations was 31.3 which is higher than both the local authority and national averages of 28.2 and 27.8 respectively.

Premises

The premises were progressively extended between 2000 and 2004 with new classroom

Classroom

A classroom is a room in which teaching or learning activities can take place. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, including public and private schools, corporations, and religious and humanitarian organizations...

s and additional administrative space. There was significant local opposition to this expansion on the grounds that children from outside the area would be attracted and so this would increase traffic. Letters of objection and a petition were submitted to the council but the plans went ahead regardless.

Church bells project

Sponsored by BT

BT Group

BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...

, in 2004 the school undertook a project to research the origins of the St Michael's Church bells

Church bell

A church bell is a bell which is rung in a church either to signify the hour or the time for worshippers to go to church, perhaps to attend a wedding, funeral, or other service...

 and produced a DVD and book multimedia

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...

 package.

Faculty awards

• Neil Parker won the North-East 2002 Leadership Trust Award for School Leadership.