Canford School and Dumpton School will form The Canford Schools Group of charitable independent schools after the school said its shared educational values and like-minded educational approach was the foundation for the merger. Both schools will keep their individual identity, name, headmaster, teachers, uniform and site, while the governing body of The Canford Schools Group will consist of governors from both schools and Dumpton will have an education committee overseeing its offering. A finalist in the last year’s Independent School of the Year 'coeducational school of the year’ award, Dumpton School also received the prestigious accolade of a ‘significant strength’ in its recent ISI inspection for the impact of its character education. Dumpton School’s chair of governors Neil Brooks said: “As we welcome more and more pupils to Dumpton across all year groups, this merger opens up a range of new opportunities. "Being a founder member of The Canford Schools Group will bring considerable benefits to our whole school community, including sharing resources, skills, knowledge and facilities.