What is the Banbury Dashwood Schools Federation?

A federation is an arrangement of two schools with one governing body – allowing parents and staff from both schools to become governors and make strategic decisions that influence and help both schools. In our case the Federation governing body has full responsibility for both Banbury School and Dashwood Community Primary School.

Both schools remain separate and are inspected by Ofsted separately. We have an Executive Headteacher, with overall accountability for the two schools and in each school an Operational Headteacher who runs their school on a day-to-day basis. The Executive Headteacher is also Principal of Banbury School, working at a strategic level.

For many years there has been a great deal of positive collaboration between Dashwood School and Banbury School. Dashwood School has just had a strong Ofsted inspection that highlights the progress made by the school and removing the requirement for ‘special measures’. Banbury School achieved the best overall ‘good’ GCSE results in the area this summer, and the ‘best ever’ for the school again at GCSE. We want to build on these achievements and ensure Dashwood School and Banbury School are at the forefront of education for the benefit of all pupils and students, current and future.
 
Both schools have fantastic new school buildings and we want to take advantage of the professional expertise in both schools to ensure that our pupils and students have the best possible education experiences.

There are some real advantages to federation. Dashwood School staff can tap into the expertise at Banbury School, and vice versa. For example, Banbury School staff are keen to learn from Dashwood staff expertise, and help students when they join Year 7 with suggestions about the best learning methods for younger secondary students.  Staff at Banbury School can help Dashwood staff with finances, caretaking and grounds maintenance. There are things to learn on both sides for the advantage of our pupils and students.

Our vision is for the Federation to offer an even better learning environment for pupils and students who attend Dashwood School and Banbury School, and for the local community who use the facilities and sites.