A NEW headteacher has started at Elmley Castle CE First School.

Phil Croke, who is also headteacher at Sedgeberrrow CE First School has also taken on the executive head post at Elmley Castle CE First School, at the foot of Bredon Hill.

Sedgeberrow, was rated outstanding by Ofsted in 2014 and has 180 pupils, whilst Elmley Castle was rated a good school by Ofsted in 2017 with 45 pupils.

As executive headteacher, Mr Croke will be overseeing Elmley Castle for two days a week and will be working closely with Nadia Underwood as head of school for Elmley School.

He said: “Elmley School is blessed with fantastic outside spaces, a family atmosphere and caring teachers who know their pupils inside out.

"Each class has no more than 17 children. Our small class sizes and excellent teaching has enabled the pupils to attain some of the highest standards in the whole of the county.

"Over the past 18 months, after a period of turbulence, the combined effort of a strong leadership team, the community and parental support has stabilised the school and put it back on track, with pupils joining across the age groups from in and out of catchment.

"I’m excited about the prospect of sharing excellence and best practice between Sedgeberrrow and Elmley and developing a relationship between the children of both schools to include sports and other social activities.”

The recent changes of the Department of Education’s regulations has allowed headteachers to run more than one school and raise standards across schools, exchanging new ideas with a new willingness to work together and improve outcomes for all pupils.