A St Albans school is one of six schools in the country to win a share of £1.2m to boost the quality of teaching.

Sandringham School, in The Ridgeway, has been named one of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the Institute for Effective Education’s (IEE) six new research schools. The school will receive £200,000 in funding over three years and will develop a programme of support and events to get more teachers using research evidence in the classroom.

Research schools aim to break down the barrier between teachers and academics and become focal points of evidence-based teaching in their region.

The first five research schools were announced in October 2016, and since then have delivered programmes to help schools make the most of teaching assistants and training to support literacy in the early years. They have also hosted conferences for schools in their area and put together monthly research school newsletters.

The IEE has also awarded the first innovation evaluation grants to schools working alongside their local research schools, with projects being funded to develop pupil vocabulary and improve feedback to students.

Alan Gray, head of Sandringham School, said: “At Sandringham, through our relationships with the academic community, we have been able to enhance our knowledge, refine practice in the classroom and provide students with rich new learning experiences.

“This has had a really positive impact on our school and we look forward to building on this work as a research school and making a contribution to schools both locally and to the wider research school network.”