Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois recently paid a visit to Castledon School and College, in Wickford, which is a popular special needs “through school”, providing tailored education to special needs children from the ages of 5-18.
Castledon is in the process of joining the Zenith Multi-Academy Trust. The Trust includes several other South Essex schools, including James Hornby (in which Mark was incidentally a pupil at in the 1970s and 80s when it was known at ‘St Nicholas’) and St John’s school in Benfleet.
The Chief Executive of Zenith Trust is the highly experienced former Headteacher Mr Andy Hodgkinson, who was an award-winning Headteacher at Sewenye Park School in Rayleigh, for many years. During his visit, Mark met with Mr Hodkingson and also the Principal at Castledon, Mr Simon Holliday, and was briefed on some of the extra support and resources which are likely to be made available for special needs pupils at Castledon, as a result of them joining the Zenith Trust
In addition, Mark was taken on a tour of the School and College (the latter of which he opened several years ago) and was shown a number of old classrooms and demountables, for which Castledon already has ambitious plans for improvement- which Mark has offered to support.
Commenting on the visit Mark Francois MP said:
“Castledon School and College rightfully has a strong reputation for providing education to special needs pupils from across South Essex. I am pleased to see that Castledon is now joining the Zenith trust, which is run by Andy Hodgkinson who I very much respect and I am sure as a result Castledon will continue to go from strength to strength. Finally, I wish them all the best of luck with their plans to refurbish part of the school.”
