Chaddleworth St Andrew’s & Shefford jump up in Ofsted rating

The Chaddleworth St Andrew’s and Shefford Federation of C of E Primary schools are celebrating the successful outcome of their Ofsted inspection in April.

Following this inspection, both schools are judged as ‘Good’ in every area with strengths in both reading and Early Years provision.

The schools share the same headteacher, staff and governing body. In April 2016, both schools moved onto the same school site and began working fully as one school.

Both schools were considered ‘in need of improvement’ in 2015. Since then, the school has been working closely with the council and their governing bodies to recruit a new headteacher and complete a comprehensive action plan.

Inspectors found that ‘since taking up post in January 2016, the new Head Teacher has brought renewed vigour and enthusiasm to the staff and governors at Shefford‘.  The reports say that the attention to pupil welfare and personal development are strength of the school and that they have a ‘culture of deep care’ and as one parent noted ‘the school is bursting with life, love and laughter’.

Cllr Lynne Doherty, West Berkshire’s Executive Member for Education said, “What a brilliant result! This clearly shows the power of the collective when two schools unite and what can be achieved when everybody is working single mindedly to achieve success. Congratulations to all concerned.”

Bridget Goodrich, Headteacher said, “We are absolutely delighted with the reports which speak of our schools as offering high quality, committed and effective staff with pupils who are well taught and who are achieving well. It is extremely rewarding to have our efforts recognised and these reports are testament to the commitment and hard work of staff, pupils, the friends of the schools, our effective Governing Board and the local authority. We are completely united in our objective to work together to move forward and continuously improve.”