Press Release 

Ridgeway Education Trust welcomes All Saints CofE Primary School and Long Wittenham CofE Primary School  

Ridgeway Education Trust (RET) is delighted to announce that All Saints CofE Primary School in Didcot and Long Wittenham CofE Primary School officially join the Trust on Wednesday 1st November.  

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

Ruth Elliot, Chair of RET Board, said: 

‘We are delighted that All Saints and Long Wittenham 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.’ 

Catherine Harrison, Chair of Governors at Long Wittenham CofE 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 local schools with specialist teaching support and wider curriculum opportunities available to our children.’ 

Elisabeth Anderson, Chair of Governors at All Saints CofE Primary School, said: 

‘The governors and staff at All Saints 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 has always been 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. We’ve learnt a lot from working with Sutton Courtenay CofE Primary School since the school joined the Trust in 2019. 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 All Saints and Long Wittenham primaries have chosen to join us and look forward to Carterton and Hagbourne primary schools joining the Trust in the spring. 

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 last November and the school topped the DfE Oxfordshire performance tables for GCSE outcomes this summer. This summer’s results place both St Birinus School and Didcot Girls’ School in the top ten performing single sex comprehensive schools in the country. A level results this 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, will talk to children in assemblies this week to share the news and staff will celebrate with RET cupcakes! 

Wednesday 1st November 2023