IAN Elkington thought he had left teaching behind him until the headteacher's job at Glory Farm Primary School proved too good to turn down.

His desire to return to the Bicester school – where he previously taught in the early 1990s – demonstrated the special qualities he believes it offers to pupils.

This year, as it celebrates its 40th anniversary, the school is seeking to keep up the good work and continue to innovate for pupils.

Mr Elkington said: "I had gone into Buckinghamshire's school improvement service and I had not really intended to come back into headship but then this job came up.

"The school has not lost its ethos in all of its 40 years.

"There is a buzz that you get when you walk through the door. It is a happy school and that is what is really special about it.

"We are a very inclusive school and try to cater for the needs of everyone.

"That is one of our big success stories."

The 420-pupil school took advantage of changes to education under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government when more schools were given the chance to become academies.

It linked up with The Cooper School to form Bicester Learning Academy multi-academy trust (MAT).

Mr Elkington said linking up with the secondary school in 2014 had been a big benefit to pupils.

He said: "It has been absolutely brilliant.

"We share resources and staffing, we have a computing teacher working with us taking all the IT classes.

"We share maths teachers and we also share things like IT support and finances.

"Our children are really well prepared for when they move on to The Cooper School.

"They know what they are going to."

The partnership has also aided Mr Elkington and his staff as they seek to further enhance the opportunities available for youngsters.

He said: "We are trying really hard to enrich the curriculum further.

"We now have more clubs, we have sports coaches and we are able to use The Cooper School's facilities.

"It means our kids get the opportunity of working with older pupils."

Like many primary schools Glory Farm also benefits from a strong community support network, which Mr Elkington said enabled it to continue offering the best to youngsters.

He said: "We have got a really successful PTA, their support is second to none.

"They have got a number of projects, we have just had the playground re-painted with hopscotch lines and they provided for that.

"They are now focusing on books for the school, I do not know what we would do without them."