The Coombes Church of England Primary School spent almost £300,000 on hiring agency staff from 2016 to 2017.

The next largest spend on agency supply from another Wokingham borough school was £70,104 from St Paul Church of England Junior School, with the average spend from schools that spent money on this resource being £20,239.

The school was under the control of the local authority Wokingham Borough Council at this time, but it is now an academy.

Executive member for children’s services, Cllr Pauline Helliar-Symons said: “The Coombes required additional support during a difficult period, and we supported them as we would any school in similar circumstances.

“Since 2016/17, significant improvements have been made at The Coombes with results and progress in reading, writing and maths now above the national and Wokingham Borough averages, so the money was very well spent”.

The Coombes, based in Arborfield, was put into special measures in May 2016 after an Ofsted report rated the school inadequate.

The school was forced to become an academy because of this after the schools’ watchdog found “pupils are not well prepared for life in modern Britain.”

It is not clear if the huge spends on agency led to the poor inspection rating, or if they came as a result of the verdict, but reports from 2016 indicated that the school was forced to hire an interim headteacher shortly after being criticized for not having a ‘full-time headteacher’.