Desford Community Primary School is a caring and inclusive school where the vision of “Be Kind to Yourself, Others and the Environment” underpins every aspect of school life. Serving Desford and the surrounding villages, the school is committed to helping pupils grow into confident, respectful, and responsible individuals in a supportive community.

With around 400 pupils, the school has expanded its facilities to include a purpose-built Foundation Stage unit, Upper Junior classrooms, a library, extensive outdoor spaces, a community garden, allotment, chicken enclosure, and Forest School provision. A dedicated leadership team, teachers, and support staff work together to provide a safe, engaging, and nurturing environment where every child can thrive.

Recognised by Ofsted for its positive culture, strong relationships, and excellent pupil behaviour, the school places equal emphasis on academic achievement, personal development, and wellbeing. A broad curriculum, enriched through activities such as Forest School, music, sport, and creative learning, prepares children for future success while promoting British Values, positive attitudes, and a lifelong love of learning.

Vision - Our caring community ‘Be Kind’ ethos underpins everything that we do at Desford Community Primary School. It runs as a thread through our school’s curriculum, can be seen in the characteristics of our staff and pupils and is evident in the way in which we interact with our local community. The Desford Curriculum includes anything that the children experience in their time at school including assemblies, clubs/activities, break/lunch times, before and after school clubs and much more. We therefore go to great effort in ensuring our school ethos is developed through these aspects of our curriculum. We believe that by being kind to yourself, others and the environment children who attend our school will:

Develop a clear understanding of how to look after yourself physically, mentally and educationally.

Learn how to display a positive attitude towards others by showing inclusive, respectful behaviours.

Nurture a responsibility for caring for our environment locally, nationally and across the whole planet.

In summary, our core values in school focus around the following areas:

1) Growing Respectful Citizens: Understanding and applying our caring community ethos

2) Fostering a Lifelong Love of Reading & Learning: Through curriculum and enrichment activities

3) Physical Activity, Health & Wellbeing: Giving the knowledge and skills for how to stay healthy

4) Inclusion & Equality: Ensuring all children have equal access to everything our school provides

5) Understanding & Respecting Other Cultures: Through a broad & rich History and RE Curriculum

6) Caring for our Environment & Local Community: So that children continue this in future

Desford Primary School is a vibrant and flourishing school at the heart of the village community.

We have around 402 pupils in fourteen classes. We were awarded a "Good" school grading overall in the Ofsted inspection of July 2017. In addition, no single aspect of school performance was judged to be less than "Good" by the inspectors ( see the foot of this page for the full report).

All School staff are all dedicated and capable practitioners.

The school building is modern, attractive and well-maintained. The classrooms are spacious and well-equipped and the school prides itself on the quality of the classroom displays.

Desford Primary School is a vibrant and flourishing school at the heart of the village community. We have around 380 pupils in thirteen classes and are in the midst of significant growth due to large-scale house building in the village. All school staff are dedicated and capable practitioners and the quality of teaching is at a consistently high level. Outcomes for pupils are consistently good throughout the school. Our children are nurtured, kept safe and are well cared for (Ofsted 2017). 

Our school is one of ten schools in the LiFE Multi Academy Trust. This collaborative school network currently comprises of 4 primary and 6 secondary schools and enables us to keep abreast of current developments in education and continually to develop and improve all aspects of our practice. We work within a group of other schools in the local area to the same end.

Our school building is modern, attractive and well-maintained and includes an exceptional purpose-built 60-place Foundation Stage unit for Reception children, opened in September 2015 and a two classroom Upper Junior unit opened in May 2018 . All classrooms are spacious and well-equipped and the school prides itself on the quality of the classroom displays. 

The grounds of the school are very attractive and there are two play areas, as well a regional award-winning community garden. The large playing field easily accommodates football and rounders pitches, plus a running track and wildlife areas. Overall, the high quality of the learning environment provides a very favourable context for effective learning and teaching.

Pupil behaviour throughout the school is very good. Pupil attendance statistics are also very good and are above national and county averages. 

There is a very wide range of extra-curricular activities available to pupils of all ages and the school takes part in many inter-school sports competitions throughout the year. 

We very much welcome visits from prospective staff. Please be assured of a warm welcome and we would strongly encourage you to take a tour of the school so that you can see for yourselves the high-quality education we provide. Please contact the school office to arrange a visit.

Best wishes,

Mr C Wilson

Head Teacher 

"The LiFE Multi-Academy Trust offers an exciting environment that has a range of development opportunities to take on roles across the trust, to help develop your career. We are always looking for people who are enthusiastic and committed to support our ‘Life long learning’ ethos. If you like the sound of our Vision, Values and Ethos and would like a visit to one of our schools, please get in contact."

To find out more about the trust, please click here