Welcome

This site is primarily for Church of England schools in the Diocese of Chester. In it you will find information about the schools and advice for governors and staff.  Please click on the links to the left.

Some files are provided in pdf format.  You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader program, available free of charge from Adobe, in order to view the files.

New on the website

An inspection handbook has been produced which will be of help both to inspectors and schools facing their SIAS inspection.  You will find it here. (Other inspection resources are in the Inspection section).

Our colleagues in Blackburn Diocese have produced a document about "Every Child Matters" for Church schools.  You can see it here.

The latest newsletter is here and  What’s on in school can be read here.

New telephone number
Church House has a new telephone system and this has meant that we have needed to change our telephone number.

Please phone us on 01244- 681973 and follow the instructions to reach "Education". The fax number is unchanged.

A new voice on the telephone
We are pleased to announce that we have a new member of the Schools Team at Church House.  Sandra Reynolds joined us on 8 January as Schools Administrative Assistant and will be supporting general and financial work.  Any items for the newsletter should now be sent to her at sandra.reynolds@chester.anglican.org.

New Admission Appeals Code

The DCSF have issued a new Admission Appeals Code.  There is a summary in the newsletter and we will provide further advice soon.

Building Work at Aided Schools

A simplified form has been produced for use when a school is purchasing ICT equipment using DFC and there is no building work.  This can be completed without the involvement of the school's building consultant.  It can be downloaded  here and completed on line by clicking here.  It should then be printed and signed by either the headteacher or an authorised  governor.  The premises guidelines have also been updated and can be seen here.  These will undergo a major revision after further changes are made following the recent consultation.

Other building forms can be downloaded by clicking on the link on the left.

Local Authority Re-organisation Plans and Church Schools

As a consequence of falling numbers in schools, many Local Authorities are considering re-organising their school provision.  For information on how this could affect Church schools, click here. 

The Diocesan Board of Education have produced responses to the proposals in Cheshire and the Wirral.  To see the response, click on the relevant authority.

RE & Collective Worship support

Support can now be provided on a part-time basis by Sue Glover.  Any school wishing to use her should contact Sue Noakes in the first instance. 

Denominational inspection

Denominational inspection is now known as Statutory Inspection of Anglican Schools (SIAS) and comes under section 48 of the Education Act 2005 (section 50 for Wales).  For more information click here.  The new framework and self-evaluation toolkit can be downloaded from the National Society webpage.

Information about ensuring the Church nature of your school is reflected in the Ofsted SEF can be found here.

To see denominational inspection reports, click here.