{"id":1724,"date":"2018-01-20T18:39:46","date_gmt":"2018-01-20T18:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/?p=1724"},"modified":"2018-02-21T08:20:28","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T08:20:28","slug":"azbuka-becomes-the-uk-s-first-approved-russian-english-bilingual-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/?p=1724","title":{"rendered":"Azbuka becomes the UK\u2019s first approved Russian-English bilingual school"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"news_20.01.2017\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Azbuka School in\u00a0South West London\u00a0has been given high ratings across all four areas examined by Ofsted, following a successful inspection by the official government auditor of education standards.<\/p>\n

The assessment of \u201cgood\u201d for overall effectiveness was matched by the same positive judgement for each of the four individual areas inspected: effectiveness of leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare; and outcomes for pupils.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe school meets all the independent school standards,\u201d the inspectors concluded in their report. \u201cThe school\u2019s bilingual curriculum is a key strength. It is well planned and implemented.\u00a0 Pupils enjoy learning all subjects in Russian and English; they make rapid progress in both languages.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inspectors highlighted the \u201coverwhelmingly positive\u201d feedback from parents, \u201cprovision for pupils\u2019 spiritual, moral, social and cultural development\u201d, and students\u2019 educational progress in subjects including English, Russian and mathematics.<\/p>\n

The strong positive judgement \u2013 unusual for a recently created school inspected for the first time by Ofsted \u2013 is a reflection of Azbuka\u2019s profound commitment to education and experience accumulated over the past 17 years. \u00a0The grading follows two years of discussions with the Department of Education, which allowed it to operate one of the first Ofsted-registered nurseries providing a language immersion curriculum in the UK.<\/p>\n

Maria Gavrilova, Azbuka\u2019s founder and head teacher, said: \u201cWe are thrilled with this very strong endorsement of our vision to create an innovative, supportive and highly effective bilingual school, which is proving ever more popular with students and parents.\u00a0 It is a remarkable achievement, particularly bearing in mind that Azbuka\u00a0Primary is a new\u00a0full-time school implementing one of the first bilingual curricula in the country and introducing an educational model that is pioneering in many respects. \u00a0It\u00a0concludes the final vital step in our path to establishing the first effective Russian-English bilingual school\u00a0in the UK. \u00a0On behalf of the founders I would like to congratulate\u00a0all the teachers, parents, children, patrons and supporters who have been behind\u00a0this wonderful, ground-breaking and inspirational project for London.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Azbuka Foundation incorporates a full-time bilingual primary school in Mortlake, a Russian nursery, a Saturday\u00a0complementary school\u00a0for children aged 5 to 16, and a bilingual educational resource\/cultural\u00a0centre for the community.<\/p>\n

This 17-year long project expanded into a full-time school in September 2016. \u00a0Among its long-term consultants and supporters is the former head of\u00a0Wix, the French-English school in London, who has said: “I applaud the initiative shown by the Azbuka group in offering a Russian-English based education.\u00a0 Azbuka has now joined the growing numbers of schools that have recognised the cognitive, social and cultural benefits to be gained from a bilingual education. Their initiative will strengthen UK-Russian understanding, to the benefit of Azbuka\u2019s pupils and their families, and on a broader scale it will undoubtedly support the UK\u2019s economic development. \u00a0In other words, this school has the potential to be something very special.”<\/p>\n

Azbuka welcomes new students and is currently seeking premises from autumn 2018 to meet its expansion. \u00a0It also requires additional funding, donations and sponsorship to secure its continued growth and be in a position to offer support to parents and children from all backgrounds, regardless of income, interested in the proven value of a bilingual education.<\/p>\n

Speaking on behalf of Azbuka\u2019s board of governors, Maria Gavrilova said: “We have now proven our ground-breaking model but our lease is coming to an end and we need serious donors to come forward this spring to support us in the establishment of a permanent home. \u00a0Another opportunity like this may not arise again for many years to come, if not decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ofsted inspectors noted that Azbuka\u2019s pupils were making good progress educationally within a \u201ccaring\u201d and \u201csafe culture\u201d. \u201cPupils are inducted effectively in Russian and English and have well-developed social skills. As a result, they make good progress in a wide range of subjects, including English, mathematics and Russian\u201d and show \u201cevidence of rapid development of knowledge, skills and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said Azbuka\u2019s \u201cstrong bilingual curriculum is planned and taught effectively\u201d, emphasising that teachers had \u201cgood subject knowledge\u201d which was well conveyed in lessons with the support of \u201cskilful bilingual teaching assistants\u201d.<\/p>\n

They quoted one parent who said: \u201cMy son is happy, safe and making excellent progress with his education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the many testimonials found on the Azbuka website is the following comment from a parent whose child travels to school all the way from East London every day:<\/p>\n

“The progress that\u00a0my child\u00a0has shown in the past year is incredible. He\u2019s got all the subjects as his favourites, because at Azbuka there is no such thing as a \u201cdifficult subject\u201d. The areas that he had previously expressed little interest in \u2013 music, dancing, drama, arts and crafts, science \u2013 he now looks forward to every lesson.”<\/p>\n

Another parent writes: “I have to say that we are getting from Azbuka something that we have never experienced in the UK before … the teachers understand my children completely, their needs, their level of development and every step the teachers take is designed to ensure my children develop their full potential.”<\/p>\n

Overall, attendance is above national levels with attainment at least typical of pupils of their age, there is good behaviour and no evidence of bullying.<\/p>\n

The Ofsted inspection which was extended over three days included visits to the school, interviews with staff, parents, students and governors, and close examination of records. \u00a0The inspectors\u2019 report also recognised the value of the school by endorsing its integration with Azbuka\u2019s part-time nursery, which had already been approved in an earlier, separate\u00a0inspection.<\/p>\n

Azbuka school has also been recognised by the Russian Embassy\u00a0and its embassy school.
\nThe Azbuka Foundation is a UK registered charity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Azbuka School in\u00a0South West London\u00a0has been given high ratings across all four areas examined by Ofsted, following a successful inspection by the official government auditor of education standards. The assessment of \u201cgood\u201d for overall effectiveness was matched by the same positive judgement for each of the four individual areas inspected: effectiveness of leadership and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1724"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1729,"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724\/revisions\/1729"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azbukafoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}