What we know after the Department for Education ordered John Rankin Junior School in Newbury, whose headteacher resisted Ofsted, to join an academic trust

It has been more than two months since newburytoday revealed the Department for Education intervened to turn John Rankin Junior School into an academy.

And it still hasn’t found a multi academy trust to take over management of the school from West Berkshire Council.

The education body issued the Newbury school – whose headteacher famously refused to grant Ofsted entry to her school – with an Academy Order in January after its ‘Inadequate’ Ofsted inspection the previous October, which found it to have “serious weaknesses”.

The order only applies to the junior school, but the infant and nursery school – under the same federation – can opt to join a trust if they wish.

Senior leadership and governors at the school chaired a town hall meeting to address parents’ concerns on April 2.

Newburytoday understands parents were told the same day that chair of governors David Marsh had resigned from his role due to “personal reasons”.

At the meeting, headteacher Flora Cooper outlined the school’s improvement plan, put together with support from WBC and Trinity and St Bart’s schools.

Newburytoday understands Ofsted had no input in the plan and will only review its progress once it returns to reassess the school – usually in two-and-a-half years’ time.

In a written update sent to parents last week, seen by newburytoday, the school acknowledged the impact of staff shortages on pupil learning, particularly for Years 4 and 6, something Mr Marsh previously conceded was an issue.

The school confirmed it has made new staff appointments to “ensure greater stability going forward”.

It also shared that focused intervention for Year 6 pupils has been in place since Christmas, with analysis completed each term to identify gaps in learning.

It said the same for Year 3, 4 and 6 pupils needing additional support in Key Stage 2 phonics, and for all year groups covering Key Stage 1 phonics.

It has also provided planning support for English and mathematics with regular local authority visits.

Concerns around results in these subjects were previously flagged to us by parents.

Twenty-five per cent of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths compared to the 55 per cent local authority average, based on Gov.UK data for the final results for pupils who completed Key Stage 2 in the summer of 2024.

By comparison, pupils at Falkland Primary School scored 73 per cent for the same period.

Progress measures also show John Rankin pupils scored below average in writing and maths between the end of Key Stage 1 and the end of Key Stage 2 in the summer of 2023.

Newburytoday will report any further updates as they arise.

Ms Cooper has been approached multiple times for comment.