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Newchallen ge for head who rescu ed ‘last resort’ school
AFTER asuccessful deca Finlaylooksa IFHEwa
nts it, he goesa Ca
t his ca nd gets it.
he realised he possessed a drive when he wa Ma
versity. Itwa
s 1 9 9 4 ,a
thing Ca wa fa
fica
rlRoberts recalls the timewhen n inner
tch Special fromtheWest Indies while sitting his finalsa th Uni-
tching Engla mous Sa
rl decided he fa nd pla
y in Ja binaPa Withadegreea tion out of thewa cherwa
findingajob there. After aflurry of telegra tween the UK a the young tea
nd the Ca smeta
port by apriest a rs a
rrive. t Sa Ca
ndthe twenty-some- ncied
maica’s
rk in Kingston. nd tea
y, he seta
ching quali- bout
ms be- ribbea t theair-
waiting for the 1 9 9 8 MCC touring pa
yea t two schools, expecta rty toa
Test wicket ever” ha ma
tch unpla ble. ya rl, who is 4 6 this yea
to come home – viaaba tour of friendless a
beena
He said: “I suppose I’ve alwa detecting “knifea mbitiousa
te on his ca reer.
known wha wha wa it.”
t I ha thing”a t I wa
nd driven;alwa ture coupled with ethnica concerns beca
ys ys
nted a nd done nt something I tend to goa
d to do to get there. If I nd get
Hedeterminedto “do theLondon nd joinedatough compre-
hensive school in Croydon, south London, in 1 9 9 9 .
life, he sa me pa
r, decided ckpa
regimes in centralAmerica nd re- ally concentra
cking
nd unfriendly –a
The entra nce ha rch”. A ga to be mugged on the wa
d its own metal- Ca nd hiswifeAlison tomove to ng cul- Otford, nea
rla r Sevenoa nd social rt of working
fromschool by groups of youths. Nevertheless, he quickly rose through the ra hea da
“Wedidn’twa tha
ys. Childrenwould expect a y home
ks.
t environment –Iwouldn’twa schools there a ny of my children to grow up in
nt her to growupin nt
Croydon now.” In 2 0 0 8 , when he la dship a
hea
d.However, the birth of his first pla ughter 1 0 yea go prompted
nks to becomedeputy Ea rs a
st Malling, it wa
here. He said: “The tea
ing, the lea nd it wa
Kent –nobodywa a
when therewa were grea
howto tea “The tea
children howto behave and showthe teachers howto teach. Carl Roberts TheMalling School
16 “ ”
Improving a school is not rocket science. Tell the
Malling July 2018 very ha ilya
ve a ch.
nded his first t The Malling School in ce”. One senses understa dership a s the pla
ching, the lea nd the beha
st popula rn-
nted to come here ce pupils ca
s nowhere else. “Don’t getmewrong, the tea nd show the tea chers t, they just needed some
help. Improving aschool is not rocket
science.Tell the children how to beha
chers
chers were all working rd – some of them a
re still
here –but they ha leda
ndthe childrenwere the sa Although he relies on sta nva
the decisions. “It ca ra
will ma ca
use tha t Ia
dn’t beenproperly me.”
ff hea
nd ca sses views, he ma n’t beademoc-
kes
cy. Iwill listen to your views but I ke the decisions here, be- t’swha mpaid to do.
s in a“difficult alla tement a
iour needed improvement. It wa ha one of the lea
v- a s
r schools in a me to
When it finally did, he pitched up a binaPa
rk to find the “worst d ma
de the n,
nd spent three ntly
s listening to Test t Ba
reer so fa nd exa
de in cha ra
rge of The Malling School, Ca mines wha
rl Roberts is moving on. Simon t drives himon...
properly or is failing tomeet expec- ta
tions or ha see ita to do wa sapersonal failure.”
One of the first things he resolved s to tea
Wall”built in the ea tect children’s “sa rl sa
symbolic.” He a
da fety”.
Ca ys: “The real rea the children kept sca wall ma
ughters,a Ca
nufa ged eighta son wa s rpering, but the
knocked it down – it wa ther nd Alison now ha
nd 1 0 .
home in Tewkesbury, Gloucester- shire, the son of a ma cturingworker. “It wa
s the Tha
cturing. Somy teena tough, but I ha my mum a wa
d, a s importa
West India dventure. It isallafa tion –a
ching qualifica na
fee-pa tina
people were unemployed inma fa
nu-
de it look likeaprison.We s ra
rl grew up in aworking cla n unemployed tcher era, alot of ge yea
rswere
d the total support of nd da nd still do. It nt.”
He took five A levels, studied physics a th a tea
t Ba nd then took his tion before the
r cry fromhis next des- ying school in ta
re fee-pa
there is no social support beca isata
re India x-
freeDubai, run by theGEMS group. But he quickly cla
nd
the lower end of the fee-pa scale. Therea re Pa
kista ndall the tea n or from the India
nothera
x-free society. This school isa ying
use it t
re 5 ,0 0 0 pupils,almost nia
n sub-
continent. It’sahuge challenge for mea
global educa
nt my children to ha tion.”
tionalBa
ve to understa nother culture nd I wa
ndwill calluponme todevelop spect ofmy skill set. I will nda
ve a
te (IB) a popula bridgea
He cites his proudest a ments in his time a School a reer-ba a
s being alea sedInterna
Success ha
tion,drivea cra nda
v- a
1 0 yea lea
the recipe. “The rea nddowha
t The Malling der in the ca ccala
chieve- -
ure-
nd becoming the most rly requested school in Ton- ndMalling.
s beenaresult ofa nd8 0
-hourweeks.Gra t I ha
mbi- ft,
fta n eye fordetail seemto be son I come into school
rs is to see those youngpeople ve here fulfilled, educa rounded - going out therea successful. I wa a
vedone for thepa ted a
“If someone is not doing their job do itwithout grea ching.”
chieve theirpotential.But youca t tea
nd nd being
nt to see everyone n’t
st chers
rifies: “All ying a
ve two ss
r down the “Berlin rly 1 9 8 0 s to pro-
s not flourished, then I
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