I went to Ham Dingle Primary Academy in Pedmore on Friday to congratulate it for a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating and to visit the forest school.
Reception pupils were making toast and dream catchers when Suzanne arrived to meet them, their mums and staff, including assistant headteacher Cath Feane.
Other things on offer at the open-air school include den building, role play, bug hunting, creating mud, safe tool use, tying knots and fire building.
Prior to becoming an academy, Ham Dingle was rated as ‘requires improvement’ so the latest inspection is a huge turnaround and I would like to congratulate the head Andrew Tilley and his staff for a wonderful job.
I was also jealous of all the fun everyone was having at the academy’s forest school too. Who cares about the weather when there is mud to play with and toast to eat. Mine was lovely – just the right amount of jam.
It is no surprise the inspector said Ham Dingle was a happy school. All I saw was happy faces and lots of fun and learning too. What a great visit. Thank you to the school for inviting me. It was one of the week’s highlights.
