Troubled Spalding Parish School looks to the future

A primary school on the road to recovery following a damning inspection report has some important changes on the horizon.

A new headteacher is to be appointed at Spalding Parish Church of England Day School and it will become part of an academy trust this autumn.

The school was rated “inadequate” after its latest Ofsted inspection last November. It had slipped from being “good” four years earlier.

Applications for the headteacher role close tomorrow (Wednesday), with the hope that the person appointed can begin by January at the latest. The school is looking for a teacher who “has a proven track record for developing and leading successful school improvement strategies which have led to demonstrable improvements in pupil outcomes”.

The Clay Lake school has around 500 pupils and has been led by acting headteacher Diane Mulley since September 2017.

This September it will join Lincoln Anglican Academy Trust and become the largest of its 16 schools. The trust is “committed to supporting both school improvement and, in church schools, Christian distinctiveness, whilst maintaining every school as a special and unique place”.

Chief executive Jackie Waters-Dewhurst said: “The trust will be working closely with the governing body and dates of meetings will be announced to allow staff and parents to ask any questions and to get to know the trust.

“We are really looking forward to enabling the school to access our comprehensive school improvement and back office support and know that they will bring their own skills and energy to our growing family of schools.”

Meanwhile, vice-chairman of governors, the Rev John Bennett, said: “I feel great sadness that we will no longer have the same local involvement with leadership and management of our parish school. However, I hope that we still have a good relationship between the church and the school and that when a new headteacher is appointed early next year, we can maintain and build on the links between us.”

Ofsted reports are based on five key areas. The school’s leadership, teaching and pupils’ outcomes were “inadequate” - the lowest of four ratings. Personal development, behaviour and welfare was said to require improvement. Early years provision was “good”, the second-highest rating.

Mr Bennett said after publication of the report in January: “The inspection came a few weeks before the verified data for the 2017/18 academic year was published, which showed how the school is improving, and the report does not take account of how far things have come since the summer of 2017.”