THE NEW head of one of Dorset’s smallest schools is embracing the challenges of following up his predecessor’s achievements.

Bob Duffin took over as head of Cheselbourne Village School in September after four years as a teacher at the school.

He was handed the reins by former head Ann Herridge, who stepped down after ten years in charge which culminated in the school receiving an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating in 2010 where the school received the top grade in 27 out of 28 areas.

Mr Duffin paid tribute to the work of his predecessor and said he is enjoying building on her work as the school continues to move forward.

He said: “It’s difficult because you have got to maintain that outstanding rating but we should do that because it’s a nice small school with a high teacher ratio and good resources and facilities.”

Cheselbourne Village School has just 41 pupils and four teachers but Mr Duffin said it had the technology and facilities to rival those of much larger schools.

The school also receives support from other local schools as a member of the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership. Mr Duffin said one of the biggest challenges he expects to face is keeping up with the advances in technology in education over the coming years. He said: “If you think about what’s going to happen in education in the next five years it’s going to be quite startling and we need to be prepared for that really.

“We need to be ready for the new kinds of learning that children are going to be doing.”

The school has 27 computers for its 41 pupils and Mr Duffin said it also has daily access to the village hall across the road, where his school has paid for a projector to be installed.

As well as getting to grips with the latest technologies, children have also been demonstrating their charitable side since Mr Duffin took over.

They managed to raise nearly £400 through various Children in Need activities as well as £100 for the Poppy Appeal and £166 for the Dorchester Food Bank at their Harvest Festival.

Mr Duffin said: “It’s not been a hard sell because people have been so generous and we’ve managed to involve the community, which is good.”

After his first few weeks in the job Mr Duffin admitted it was hard work but had no regrets about stepping into the role.

He said: “It’s been pretty intense but it’s very rewarding and satisfying.”