Caversham Primary School is a state

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

in Caversham, a suburb of

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, southeast England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet, the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway serve the town. Reading is east ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The school was established in 1907 and educates around 450 children between the ages of 4 and 11.

History

The school was founded in 1907, by Sir Jack Mehof of Stoke on Trent, as Caversham Council Infant School for the blind and disabled. At that time Caversham was in the county of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

, but was moved to Berkshire in 1911. The school was originally housed at what is now Thamesmead Primary School. The school was moved to its present location in Hemdean Road in 1938. The school is oversubscribed. There have been disputes with the local authority about the admittance of pupils and the matter was taken for

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incomp ...

in the High Court in 2005. 12 families, on behalf of 17 children, won an appeal when an Independent Appeal Panel ruled that the council had wrongly refused their children places at the school. The school was top of the borough’s league table in national curriculum tests at age 11 for the three years prior to 2005. When inspected in 2009, the school was given the highest possible rating ''Outstanding'' by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted is responsible for inspecting a range of educational institutions, incl ...

. The school has won several awards including ''

Artsmark Artsmark is the creative quality standard for schools and education settings, awarded by Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is ...

Gold'', ''Healthy Schools'' and ''Activemark Gold''. In February 2010 the school was given a 'Level One Rights Respecting School' award by

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to c ...

on 3 February. After inspecting again in November 2022, Ofsted gave the school the rank of ''Inadequate'' in their March 2023 report, attributing the change in rank to the leaders not "ensuring that safeguarding is effective throughout the school" and that "the leaders do not have the required knowledge to keep pupils safe from harm", adding that until the inspection, Ofsted was unaware of the "significant weaknesses in the school's arrangements to keep pupils safe." The change in the school's ranking was cited as a direct cause for the

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

of 53 year-old headteacher Ruth Perry.

Community involvement

Reading East MP

Rob Wilson Robert Owen Biggs Wilson (born 4 January 1965) is an English politician and political author. He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the Reading East parliamentary constituency in the 2005 general election, being re-elected in ...

met the school council in October 2009. It was announced, in September 2005, that a

memorial bench A memorial bench, memorial seat or death bench is a piece of outdoor furniture which commemorates a dead person. Such benches are typically made of wood, but can also be made of metal, stone, or synthetic materials such as plastics. Typically mem ...

for murdered schoolgirl Emily Salvini, that was stolen in May 2004, had been found and will be rebuilt and returned to Caversham Primary.

References

External links

* {{authority control Primary schools in Reading, Berkshire Educational institutions established in 1907 1907 establishments in England Community schools in Reading, Berkshire

History

Community involvement

See also

References

External links