Shapwick School

In 1974, Colin Atkinson, a former cricketer for Somerset County Cricket Club and head of Millfield, established the Chalice School in Glastonbury to teach pupils with dyslexia.[7][8] When Chalice closed two years later, Chalice headmaster Gerald Trump established Edington School in the old primary school building in Burtle.[9] In 1981 a Senior School was created called Edington Senior School. In 1984, Shapwick Senior School was established. The two schools worked together until 1994 when they merged to become Edington & Shapwick School, operating on the two sites in Shapwick and Burtle, and run by joint headmasters. In 2015, the school's two sites were merged again onto the Shapwick campus.

From 1984, Jon Whittock and David Walker were joint headmasters, until David Walker's death in May 2011. In May 2013, Whittock stepped down as headmaster of Shapwick School for the next headmaster, Mr Lee. Adrian Wylie was principal from September 2014 until his retirement in July 2019. The final Joint principals were Gareth Wright and Hellen Lush. On 31 March 2020, the school closed permanently.

In March 2020 upon the announcement of the closure of Shapwick School, Abbot's Way School in Meare, Somerset was proposed by Shapwick's last Heads, Gareth Wright and Hellen Lush. An independent specialist day school for students with dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia is planned.[10]

In April 2020, it was reported that a group of former staff from Shapwick School were planning to open a new school locally.[11] The new school, called The Levels School, is in the village of Ashcott, close to the site of Shapwick School,[12] and was founded by Bradley Middleton, who formerly worked in a pastoral capacity at Shapwick. Moving with him to The Levels School were teachers and therapists from Shapwick, including the former head of therapy.[13] The school was given the green light by Sedgemoor District Council following a virtual meeting of its development committee on 4 August 2020.[14] At the end of October, the school was awaiting an Ofsted visit before fully opening.[15] The BBC reported on the 26th November that The Levels School had received the green light from the Department for Education and would be opening in January 2021.[16] Parents will be able to pay privately to send their children to the school, or they can apply for education, health and care plan (EHCP) funding through their local authority. It will be open for eight to 16-years-olds, for students with dyslexia and learning differences associated with the condition.[16]

• Official website