‘Our school is not just for villagers’

A new headteacher is keen to blow away misconceptions about his quaint village school. Andrew Evans has taken over at Uffington Church of England Primary School, near Stamford . And while he knows part of the school’s charm is its small and friendly atmosphere, he wants families from further afield to take advantage of what it can offer.

Speaking in his office, which overlooks St Michael’s and All Angels’ Church, Mr Evans said: “We’re tucked away and there is a misconception that if you don’t live in the village you can’t enrol your children here. “This isn’t the case at all. We’re open to children from Stamford and other villages, and we do have a handful of places available.



He added that the school is family orientated and its curriculum benefits from using the facilities of the village community. “Our children go to the church for worship as well as Fr Aran [Beesley] coming into the school each week for collective worship, they go to the allotments to garden, and to the Genever family farm to learn about farming,” he said. “We also have a Guiding Lights group of children, who do good things in the community such as litter picking and looking after the village.

” The school plays a lead role in the annual Uffington Scarecrow Festival too, with the playing field becoming a site for stalls and games that bring in additional income over the festival weekend. The set up is quite different from Mr Evans’ previous school in Corby, where he had been deputy head teacher and acting head. That had 470 pupils compared with Uffington’s maximum of 105.

Currently Uffington School has five spaces in its reception class, and any parent interested for their child can get in touch. The school is also holding an open evening for parents of children starting school next year, which is from 6pm on November 7. A chance to look around during the school day will also be offered by appointment after the October half term.

Built in 1848, the stone school building in School Lane has the external appearance of a large house, with an attractive garden at the front used for reading outdoors. Mr Evans, a father of three boys, says his favourite children’s book is, understandably, Peace at Last by Jill Murphy. He read it as a child and feels the theme resonates well with any parent.

He feels strongly about children being given time and encouragement to read for pleasure. Each class at his school has ‘storytime’ at the end of each day. “I’m a real advocate for encouraging a love of reading early on, and we’ve signed up to the Lincolnshire Reading Pledge, which helps ensure this is happening throughout the school,” he added.

Uffington School was inspected in February 2020 and received a ‘good’ rating from Ofsted. The previous headteacher, Helen Simms, left in July to work as a church schools inspector and spend more time with her family. Does your community have a story to share? Email news@lincsonline.

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