download

System leadership
Department for Education, in unions/
associations, and what can be unfairly
described as ‘The Guardian-reading
chattering classes’. I exaggerate to make
the point but there will be many readers
of this magazine who will knowingly smile
at such descriptions.
It is worth sharing some of our
experiences at Tudor Grange Solihull.
We are very proud that we have always
had an outward-looking approach. A
very important part of our development
dates back to 1995 when we became
part of a group of schools that were the
very first community schools to achieve
Specialist School status. Prior to this,
such status had only been available to the
grant maintained/voluntary aided sector.
This status put us directly in touch with a
group of innovative and creative schools
that were part of an energetic and vibrant
national network. At that time specialists
schools were criticised by the establishment
I referred to earlier and we had to listen to
some of the tired and well-worn phrases to
do with ‘elitism’ and the creation of a ‘twotier
system’. How often have we had to
listen to such trite comments about many
educational developments.
As part of the Specialist Schools
Network we became directly involved
in collaboration, sharing good practice,
school-to-school support and advice.
This was a marked contrast to the
more stale geographical networks that
we had experienced previously. The
success of this collaborative work led to
the expansion of the Specialist Schools
movement and our involvement in
much more focused school improvement
processes such as the Department for
Education sponsored RATL projects
(Raising Achievement Transforming
Learning). These projects were successful
and valued by all schools. Improvements
were real and tangible but more
importantly nearly all schools benefited,
whether they were participant schools
or what we called consultant schools. At
Tudor Grange we benefited greatly from
such involvement. However there were
frustrations in this type of project. In
some cases there was not the harder edge
responsibility and accountability that is
sometimes required in the most stubborn
cases of underperformance.
We watched as we saw the development
of sponsored academies under the last
Labour government. We believed we
had much to offer and much to gain
and we wanted to get involved. So we
worked on doing exactly that. It took a
while and we had to nag and badger a lot
of people. We made direct contact with
Bruce Liddington, who at that time was
the Schools Commissioner. Eventually we
became an approved academy sponsor and
were asked to take on the sponsorship of
Elgar Technology College in Worcester in
2009. The school had a troubled history
with a succession of Headteachers in a
short space of time and two years of special
measures. We were happy and excited to
do so. As soon as this became public we
experienced an interesting few months.
Many of the establishment that I referred
to earlier questioned our skills, our abilities
and our credentials. This simply increased
our energy and resolve to prove these
people wrong.
On the first monitoring visit HMI
described it as, “A school in deep special
measures.” Where are we now? The
former school is now Tudor Grange
Academy Worcester and the table below
shows the improvements in some of the
key indicators.
We are extremely proud of what
we have achieved. In November 2013
Ofsted judged leadership and behaviour
to be outstanding with teaching and
achievement to be good. This was some
achievement after just four years and
when considered in the context of a
raising bar in Ofsted requirements.
However, we were slightly disappointed as
we believed that an outstanding grading
could, and possibly should, have been
achievable in all areas.
The fundamentals of how this was
achieved were very, very simple. First
was the appointment of Claire Mclean as
the academy’s first Principal. Claire had
joined Tudor Grange in Solihull as an
NQT in 1997. She quickly became a very
successful Advanced Skills Teacher and
is an outstanding professional who has
complete understanding of our culture
and ethos. She also has an unquenchable
drive for continuous improvement.
Her leadership was a crucial factor but
we are proud that she was developed
professionally at our school in Solihull.
Secondly, we had an approach that can
only be described as ‘no compromise
and no excuses’. We were absolutely
determined not to dilute what we believed
in because of some misguided view that
a different social context would require
us to do so. I would like to quote Kurt
Hahn again when he said, “The purpose
of education is to save young people
from the paralysing effects of wealth and
poverty”. Our most challenging schools in
areas of social economic deprivation need
the highest standards possible and the
highest expectations possible. Taking this
approach we are delighted with what has
been achieved in Worcester but we know
as always there is much work to do.
Another part of our work that I believe
to be very important is that our academies
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
5 A*- C including English and Maths 24% 28% 38% 47% 62%
ELOP English 47.3% 55.8% 80%
ELOP Maths 42.7% 58.4% 71%
Applications for 180 places 116 151 260 300 290
Summer 2014 | 13