PRESS RELEASE

Ridgeway Education Trust (RET) is delighted to announce that Carterton Primary School and Hagbourne CofE Primary School officially joined the Trust on Monday 1st April.

The Didcot-based multi-academy trust currently comprises Didcot Girls’ School, St Birinus School, Didcot Sixth Form, Sutton Courtenay CofE Primary School, All Saints CofE Primary School and Long Wittenham CofE Primary School.

Ruth Elliot, Chair of RET Board, said:

‘We are delighted that Carterton and Hagbourne Primary Schools have joined Ridgeway Education Trust. We are excited to be working together to offer an excellent standard of education to children and young people within our growing family of schools.’

Kevin Moyes, Chair of Governors at Carterton Primary School, said:

‘We are delighted to have joined Ridgeway Education Trust and are already seeing the benefits of being part of a larger family of schools with specialist teaching support and wider curriculum opportunities available to our children.’

Jemma Dyson, Chair of Governors at Hagbourne CofE Primary School, said:

‘The governors and staff at Hagbourne have always wanted the very best for our children and families and we are delighted to be joining Ridgeway Education Trust which will provide local support and a seamless transition throughout our children’s education.’

The CEO of RET, Rachael Warwick, said:

‘Our vision is to grow a trust of schools in Didcot and the surrounding community, creating a provision for three to nineteen year olds with excellent education at its heart. We know that schools working with high levels of collaboration in a local area can achieve far more together than on their own. Our current schools are high performing and oversubscribed so now feels the right time to take our next step in growth. I’m delighted that Carterton and Hagbourne primaries have chosen to join us and look forward to the work that we will do together.

 

The Trust will be responsible for educating circa 4,000 pupils and we’ll use the economies of scale of working across a larger number of schools to do more and do better for all our children and young people. There are some terrific leaders, governors, teachers and support staff in the new schools and it will be a privilege to work with them all.’

Didcot Girls’ School was rated outstanding by Ofsted for the second time in November 2022 and the school topped the DfE Oxfordshire performance tables for GCSE outcomes last summer. GCSE results in 2023 place both St Birinus School and Didcot Girls’ School in the top ten performing single sex comprehensive schools in the country. A level results last summer were also impressive with 34% of all grades awarded A* or A and 67% of all grades A*-B.

RET Director of Primary Education, Paul Shaughnessy, and RET CEO, Rachael Warwick, talk to children in assemblies at Carterton and Hagbourne this week to share the news and celebrate with RET-themed cupcakes!

 

Monday 1st April 2024