Saxmundham Free School

Saxmundham Free School is a very new school in Suffolk, having opened its doors to its first students in September 2012 as part of the Seckford Foundation Free Schools Trust. On the first day, 99 students in Years 7 – 9 joined a small group of highly committed staff for their first steps along the journey that is now about to start its third year. Over the last two years, the student body has grown significantly and from September 2014 will have over 245 students in Years 7 – 11.

In May 2014, after all the hard work of setting up the school, Ofsted undertook an inspection. At the end of the two days, the school was graded as good overall, with outstanding judgements in the ‘behaviour and safety’ and ‘quality of leadership and management’ categories. This article tells the journey to this success over the last two years.