At the other end of the division from Orchard Park primary school is Cottenham Primary School. It’s loved by just about everybody, certainly the children who go there and the staff who work with them but also Ofsted and local estate agents!

 The school is lead by headteacher Jan Wright who is responsible for this community school which is responsible for the education of 540 children. Its Ofsted reports are absolutely first class and were described recently by the top education officer at Cambridgeshire County Council as’just about the best he’d ever seen’. This year’s report is even better.

One of the school’s biggst challenges is to engage with and include the travellers’ communities in its catchment villages. As Jan Wright explained in the CEN article last night (24 Oct 08) the school has implemented projects to support this. It is seeing improvement. She said ‘the traveller children are fully integrated here and we are pleased to have them’.

 County Councillor David Jenkins paid a visit recently: ‘my visit was exhilarating. I was there in the afternoon and saw the enthusiasm with which the children were involved in lessons, I even exchanged a couple of words of Spanish with a Spanish class. And then I observed the school run which in Cottenham is pretty sustainable with parents turning up on foot or by bike and bus services to take children to Rampton and to the far north of the village. There were few cars. The enthusiasm of everyone was infectious and I came away thrilled by seeing such a lively and happy school community.’