Harry Potter can fly on a broomstick, paralyse his enemies, make himself invisible and talk to snakes. Now, it seems, he can save failing schools, too.

Wizard-themed lessons have been introduced at Robert Mellors Primary School, in Nottingham. Children dress as their favourite Harry Potter characters, chant spells and use their wands in maths classes.

The innovative programme has been credited with transforming academic standards at the school. It has gone from being in the bottom 25 per cent of all schools three years ago to the top 25 per cent and recently received a glowing report from Ofsted.

Inspectors judged maths lessons to be “outstanding”, saying: “Subtraction was seen as a spell by Harry Potter. Behaviour in lessons was of the highest standard and reflects pupils’ enjoyment.

“Pupils enter the school with standards well below average. Over the last three years, standards and achievement have improved greatly.”

Donna Chambers, the head teacher, allowed pupils to pick a different theme each term that would influence the way in which the whole curriculum was taught. They voted for Harry Potter and all lessons now reflect J. K. Rowlings’ stories.

The school is divided into four houses, named Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin after the houses at Harry Potter’s school, Hogwarts.

In English, pupils are creating a screenplay from a chapter in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. In physical education they have practised balancing in a way that would allow them to climb on to a broomstick.

Tackling tricky maths problems is made easier by the spell “numerus subtracticus”, the wearing of witches’ hats and the waving of wands.

In geography, children have compared where they live with localities featured in the Harry Potter films, while in IT pupils have taken a virtual tour of Hogwarts. “Herbology” has been studied in science lessons.

Teachers often join in with the dressing up, walking around the playground from 8.30am in full regalia.

Ms Chambers said: “They [the pupils] have studied the history of flight, written scripts and really believe in what they’re learning about. They don’t realise we’re ticking boxes in the national curriculum as well.

“It’s had a phenomenal impact on behaviour and on the whole school. Because learning is so much fun, pupils want to be engaged.

“This was a challenging school a few years ago. We do attact children who have not succeeded at other schools, but it has made tremendous progress.”

In previous terms, different years in the school have used themes such as the RMS Titanic or princes and princesses. Next term the focus will be on an arts-based topic, yet to be chosen.

Harry Potter effect

— The first Harry Potter book in 1997 marked the end of a ten-year decline in boarding school enrolment, with children begging to go, according to the Boarding Schools’ Association

— House prices in the small Northumberland town of Alnwick rose 51 per cent after it featured in the 2001 Harry Potter film, The Philosopher’s Stone

— In response to a study last year 59 per cent of children said that the Harry Potter books had improved their reading skills

— Scottish tourism has been boosted by a huge increase in visitors to Harry Potter film locations such as Glenfinnan Viaduct, which is featured in Chamber of Secrets

— On the day the Deathly Hallows was released, internet forums were filled with disgruntled webmasters complaining that traffic to their sites had dropped by up to 80 per cent because people were “feverishly reading the new book instead of going online”

Source: Times database

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