A LOCAL school has agreed to a collaborative partnership with the Exe Valley Federation from the beginning of October.

Sandford School announced that the governors have agreed to start a Collaborative Partnership with the Exe Valley Federation, starting from the October 1.

The Partnership Agreement has been signed by governors from both organisations after the governors at Sandford approached the Exe Valley Federation to ask them to consider a closer working relationship.

Sandford School is at the heart of its community and has six classes and around 140 children. The current Acting Headteacher, Fiona Jeffery, replaced the last Headteacher, Lois Briard in January this year and has led the school through the challenges of lockdown and re-opening in September for all the children.

The Exe Valley Federation comprises five schools in the nearby villages of Brampford Speke, Cheriton Fitzpaine, Newton St Cyres, Silverton and Thorverton.

The federation is led by John Jolliffe, the Executive Headteacher, who works alongside the Heads of School for each of the member schools. Mr Jolliffe said about this new partnership: “I am delighted that we are going to be working with Sandford this year and that we will be able to share what we are doing with another local school.”

The federation staff are also keen to learn about what is happening at Sandford and working with them on joint projects connected to the curriculum, outdoor learning and Early Years provision.

Sandford’s joint Chair of Governors, Jenny Scott, is equally excited about the opportunities that working with a larger organisation will bring. She said: “We know that schools gain a huge amount from working together by sharing their practice and learning from each other and that is why we approached the Exe Valley Federation.

“We are very excited about the opportunities that this will bring.”

The governors of Sandford explored a range of options before deciding that the EVF understood how village schools work and had the added advantage of being an existing group of local schools with a good track record of developing schools.

All the schools have re-opened after the Covid-19 closedown and have adapted their daily routines to make sure that children and adults feel safe in school.

All six schools will now be able to work together to support each other through the challenges of the autumn and winter season and look forward to a time when the children from across the partnership can meet up and share in lots of joint activities and learning experiences both in school and beyond.