Headteacher of Rushden’s Alfred Lord Tennyson School ‘extremely proud’ after Ofsted visits the school following amalgamation

The new school has been formed by the amalgamation of Tennyson Road Infants School and Alfred Street Junior School on their existing sites in Rushden.

Inspectors from Ofsted visited the school on October 1 and 2, and drew some positive conclusions.

Kelly O’Connnor, headteacher at Alfred Lord Tennyson school and formerly headteacher of Alfred Street Junior School, considers the amalgamation of the two locations a success.

She said: “As the headteacher of Alfred Lord Tennyson School, I am extremely proud of the fantastic progress that has been made in the one year that we have been a primary school.

"Our entire school community has successfully come together to create the wonderful school that we have today. I am delighted that the progress made, has been acknowledged in the recent Ofsted Inspection."

Alfred Street Junior and Tennyson Road Infant combined into one school in time for the 2023-24 academic year, with key stage two based at the former and key stage 1 and the early years are based at the latter site. From September 2025, plans are in place to accommodate all pupils at the Alfred Street site.

The report, which was the first locally to not include a single-word judgement for the overall effectiveness grade, said the school was good in behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and early years provision. It did, however state that its quality of education requires improvement.

The school’s curriculum has been fully overhauled, and Ofsted believes that, in many places, it is fit for purpose and well thought through, though the curriculum is still at an early stage of being put in place, meaning some inconsistencies remain.

The 142 pupils currently on the school roll are well looked after, and safeguarding measures are effective. The report says pupils are looking forward to coming together on the same site.

Inspectors noted that the school, which caters for pupils aged three to 11, had done well to create a positive community despite being split over two sites in Tennyson Road and Alfred Street.

The report states: “Much progress has been made since the two predecessor schools amalgamated in September 2023. The school is now one, cohesive community. There have been many significant improvements.

“The school is on an upward trajectory. It is driven by a clear vision and, at all levels, ambitious and determined leadership. The school has good capacity for continued improvement.”

Ms. O’Connor added: "As a school, we are passionate about providing a kind, caring, nurturing and inclusive ethos for our children, staff and parents and we are proud that this has been recognised and reflected in the Ofsted report. Our team of dedicated staff, volunteers, governors, and local authority representatives have worked incredibly hard to make the amalgamation of the Infant and Junior School a success.

"We will continue to be relentless in our drive for improvement and are excited about the next phase of journey, where we look forward to being together on our renovated site at Alfred Street in September 2025."

The full report can be found here.