Views & Opinion
Building the culture and values of a school through shared experience
Comment by MATTHEW GODFREY, Deputy Head, Downe House School
My first teaching post was back in 2000, when I joined an inner-city comprehensive in London as a newly qualified teacher of English. It was an extremely challenging school for a range of reasons: weak leadership, large class sizes, and the behaviour of the pupils was at times, appalling. There was a core of talented and committed teachers, but it was very unusual for anyone to stay in post for more than a few years. I remained in my post for four years and was one of the longer serving members of staff when I eventually moved on. In this case, the primary reason for staff leaving was the failure of the senior leadership team to get a grip on the behaviour of the pupils. This meant that teachers could not teach, and they quickly became exhausted and demotivated.
I have since been fortunate to teach at four outstanding independent schools, each with their own distinct and strong ethos. Instilling strong values and a positive culture that enriches the learning environment in school is vital if pupils are to reach their full potential. One thing every school I’ve worked at have all had in common, however, has been high expectations – of both pupils and staff. The truth is, I didn’t have to join the independent sector to experience the incredible culture and values that many schools strive for every day.
There are many examples of high standards and expectations in both the independent and maintained sectors. One such example is Broadway Academy, a state non-selective, mixed, 11- 18 academy with 1,240 pupils based in Birmingham. Ron Skelton, who has been the school’s headteacher for 15 years, is now the longest serving Head in the region. When he arrived at Broadway in 2008, the school was in the bottom 3% for academic progress, and pupil attendance was very low. Both have improved dramatically under his leadership and Broadway is now a leading school on both measures.
Mr Skelton told me that since he arrived at the school, he has been working hard on establishing a culture and ethos in the school that is based on generosity, appreciation and integrity. He believes, as do I, that as staff, we all have to work together to deliver the best outcome for our pupils. Interestingly, Ron has also developed a framework with his staff to ensure that his school’s values are recognised, modelled, and promoted by managers, leaders, and staff. This approach definitely helps to embed a culture that enables students and staff to excel and to commit to setting high expectations.
As Ofsted noted when it visited Broadway recently: “Leaders have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour… Pupils appreciate the support they receive from leaders. They say that they are taught how to manage their behaviour, and this helps them to achieve more in lessons.”
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Collaboration between the independent and maintained sector is something that can be hugely beneficial for all parties in building robust cultures and values in school. In fact, Mr Skelton also told me that one of the most distinctive features of his tenure as Headteacher has been his partnership with Radley College, a leading HMC boys’ boarding school in Oxfordshire. While I’m told the focus of this partnership has been on developing strong relationships between staff and students across both schools, I’ve learned since, that it has also helped them to explore a range of different partnership activities across academic studies, sports, music and cultural events.
Working together and learning from one another, has to be this biggest benefit of shared knowledge between the independent and maintained sectors. Where partnerships are nurtured and invested in long term, there is an emphasis on learning from a variety of cultures, aspirations and interests – yet more often than not, we discover more similarities than obvious differences, especially when schools come together to enrich their learning experience. For example, both Radley College and Broadway pupils have been working together to create art, they have also enjoyed shared residential trips and further enrichment through shared team building activities. Embracing partnerships like this, really can enhance respective cultures, values and pupil progress.
Katharine Birbalsingh, founding Head of Michaela Community School in Wembley is also no stranger to challenges, in fact, many of her pupils come from challenging backgrounds and enter the school from underperforming primaries. Yet astonishingly, this year the Progress 8 score for Maths placed the school at the very top of the UK; furthermore, their overall Progress 8 score placed them fifth in the whole country. Last summer, 82% of the school’s leavers secured places at a Russell Group University, including Oxbridge, LSE and Imperial. Despite its challenges, the school also has little difficulty retaining its staff – this is credit to the school’s strong set of values and its strict behaviour policy which is enforced by all levels of leadership within the school. What I find most inspiring about these examples of collaboration, is that neither Mr Skelton nor Mrs Birbalsingh are driven by ideology. They are pragmatists in the sense that they want to do whatever works best for their pupils and staff. They are also ambitious enough to be bold with their pupils so that they reach their potential. Part of this strategy is about being open to working with independent schools. Isn’t it time that instead of focusing on our differences, we focus on working together and sharing our best ideas – after all, it is our pupils that will benefit?
January 2024
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