In 1974 Bishops Caundle Church of England Primary School was relocated from small premises into the present larger building. From that date, the pupils from the infant and junior schools in the surrounding villages and hamlets which now make up the catchment area were progressively transferred to our school.
The catchment area of the school covers the villages, parishes and hamlets of Alweston, Bishops Caundle, Bishops Down, Caundle Marsh, Folke, Goathill, Haydon, Holwell, North Wootton, Purse Caundle and Stourton Caundle. In spite of taking children from this wide area, the school is classified as “small” with pupils aged from 4+ to 11. School numbers over the last few years have been as high as 120, but are currently in the range of 75 - 80. The school’s popularity draws some applications from children living outside the catchment area and with a current annual pupil admission number of 17 for each of the seven year groups; this is large enough to allow some of these out-of-catchment area children to come to All Saints. The school follows the admissions criteria set by Dorset County Council in association with the Diocese of Salisbury.
The school is funded by Dorset County Council on behalf of the Diocese of Salisbury with a budget approaching £450,000 from all sources for the financial year from April 2010 to March 2011. Together with other primary schools in Buckland Newton, Bradford Abbas, Thornford and Trent, All Saints forms part of the Sherborne small schools’ cluster, a factor which enables the schools to combine and bid more economically for some services.
Although small in terms of pupil numbers and the extent of its buildings, All Saints stands in extensive grounds. Within these grounds there are playing fields, an outdoor swimming pool, an all-weather play surface for the older children and a separate newly developed area with “seaside”-themed outdoor play equipment for the younger pupils. The outside learning and play area also features a large pergola with seating and tables, a pond and a wild life area. Further developments planned for 2011 will add a new adventure playground to these outdoor amenities.
The school adheres to ecological principles, and has a school Eco Committee, which includes pupil representatives from each year group. In 2009 All Saints became one of the first schools in the UK to power its premises using a 6kW wind turbine The turbine generates 3,000 units of electricity each year – enough to make 150,000 cups of tea – saving 1.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. A monitor in the school building encourages pupils to keep track of how much energy the turbine is generating and the amount of carbon dioxide they have saved to date. In 2010 the school achieved the Silver Eco Award.
With seven year groups in the three classes, children are, by and large, taught in mixed age groups. All classes are staffed by professionally trained teachers aided by a number of classroom assistants. In addition there is a school secretary and others who provide supervisory assistance at lunch time, or work as cleaners.
The school has four classrooms, a hall, library, staff room, offices for administration and the Head Teacher, as well as extensive storage areas for sports equipment. In 2007 an extension to the main school building provided extra in-door storage space, a quiet teaching area for one-to-one focussed activity, a small kitchen and a dedicated staff room which no longer has to serve a variety of functions.
In autumn 2005 the school received its self evaluation certificate, one of the first 40 schools in Dorset to do so. It has also qualified for a Healthy Eating award, the Active Schools Mark for excellence in PE and sport. In 2008 the school was awarded the Certificate for Financial Management in Schools.
The school has been inspected four times by both OFSTED and Salisbury Diocese- September 1997, January 2001, November 2006 and November 2009. On each occasion no major problems have been found. The last inspection grade for the school was “good”. In addition, the Dorset Local Educational Authority inspects and reviews the performance of all its schools annually and has classified All Saints in its highest grade.
In 2002-3 the school received an accolade which reflected its high standards, when out of the 2500+ small primary schools in England, it was chosen as one of just 33 to take part in the national pilot scheme Leading Small Primary Schools. This scheme involved All Saints being a “shop window” for demonstrating best practice for primary schools in Dorset, Devon, North and North East Somerset.
In the Standard Assessment Tests (SATS) for Key Stage 2, when pupils are aged 11, the school performs equal to or better than the national average in most years. However, the results from year to year do vary widely due both to the small number of pupils in the age group and the number of pupils who have special educational needs in the Key Stage 2 group. All Saints is the only school (to date) to have twice topped the Key Stage 2 League Tables for the County of Dorset. It is also one of those few schools to have received a national achievement award from the government, when this reward scheme was in operation.
All Saints is particularly proud of its record of Contextual Value Added (CVA) scores achieved over recent years. We are able to demonstrate quantifiable improvements in individual achievement as our pupils pass through their seven years in our care. These are typically well in excess of local and national averages.
All Saints has an active parent teacher association known as the ASSA (All Saints School Association). Funds raised by this group from its money-raising schemes and social functions provide the school with extra equipment and facilities.
The school is passionately supported and managed by its Governing Body, each member of which makes a point of participating in daily school life as part of the widely-praised “Governor of the Month” programme. The Governors take seriously their role of Critical Friends, being eager to provide practical and moral support when needed, but never losing sight of their prime objective; continuous improvement. A Governor inspired initiative, “The Way to Excellence”, is now enshrined within the school development plan.
