Introductory letter from Mr Johnson

Dear Parents and Carers,

I am writing to introduce myself to you as the new Interim Headteacher.

I am very excited to be at Stanmore from the start of next term, and very much looking forward to meeting the whole school community because I believe that working together, working as a community, we can make a real difference to the lives of our children.

I have been in education for over 20 years having taught in Lincolnshire, Portsmouth and Hampshire. For the past six years I have been the Headteacher of Stoke Park Junior School having successfully improved the school from being graded as ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good with Outstanding features’ within the first two years of my headship.

Stanmore will be the fourth school that I have had the pleasure of leading, and whilst this could be seen as an unsettling period for you, it is a really exciting time for the school and I am pleased to be working with a strong team to continue to drive improvements as identified by the Ofsted report. It is also a time for looking forward, and although I am not officially taking up post until September, I will be in the playground on Tuesday morning next week, and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible.

Over the next week and the summer holidays I am going to be spending time getting to know the school, getting to know the children and building relationships with everyone involved with Stanmore, in order to ensure a successful transition from one Interim Headteacher to another, and ensure that the new academic year starts on a positive note.

The partnership with parents and carers is absolutely key to me and I encourage you to maintain close communication with your child’s class teacher both when things are going well for your child and when challenges arise. If you would like to see me at any time, please do make an appointment through the office, although on some days I may be ‘catchable’ if you just want a quick word! I aim to be on the playground before and after school as much as possible, so for those of you who are unable to see me on Tuesday morning please come and introduce yourself and say hello, it will be lovely to meet you all and talk about how we are moving the school forward.

In the short term, we will be working hard to ensure that your children experience a curriculum that is fun, engaging and challenging. As a team, we are focused on enabling the children to con;nue to develop socially, emo;onally and academically - making good progress and achieving well.

Yours faithfully,

Matt Johnson
Interim Headteacher

Leadership arrangements for our school

Dear Parent / Carer,

I am writing to update you on the details and changes to the leadership arrangements for our school from September 2018.

As you are aware, Miss Wood has left us now and has undergone surgery today. We wish her well with her recovery and treatment for her cancer. I want to thank you for all your messages of support I have received and passed on to her.

From the beginning of September 2018 we will have a new Acting Headteacher, Mr Matt Johnson. He is the Headteacher at Stoke Park Junior School and he will be working with us full time from the start of term.

Joining Mr Johnson on the management team will be Mr Paul Davies, the Headteacher at Hambledon Primary. He will be with us two days a week, as an Educational Consultant, helping us with our continued drive to improve teaching and learning.

I am pleased to inform you that Miss Norris has been appointed Acting Deputy Head, and will be taking up her new position effective immediately. Mrs. White who has been Acting Deputy Head this term will return to Winnall at the end of next week. I want to thank her for her support for the school and I also want to thank the parents, staff and governors at Winnall Primary for helping us during this time.

Mrs Horkan has taken the decision to step down from her Assistant Headteacher role and will be concentrating on her Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Designated Safeguarding roles. We are also actively working to bring in support from a Hampshire Leader in SEN from September who will be joining us to support with the improvements to our SEN provision.

Mr Cascarini remains in his position as Assistant Headteacher.

Please join me in welcoming Mr Johnson and Mr Davies to our school, and in congratulating Miss Norris on her new Acting position. I hope you can see that we have assembled a very strong, experienced and capable team to help us accelerate our progress in bringing the school back to being the BEST it can be for our children and our community. The team will be focused on high expectations and high standards in all aspects of school life.

As stated in my previous letter, the recruitment process for a new permanent Headteacher has begun. We expect to be in a position to interview and offer the post to the successful candidate in the Autumn term, with a view to them starting at the beginning of the Spring or Summer term.

Finally, I would like to thank the many parents I managed to meet at the parent’s meetings last week, and all those who have sent their messages of support to staff and governors. We appreciate your time, commitment, support, engagement and positive challenge for the school. It is heartening to know that there is such a strong group of parents who care deeply about the school, the community it serves, want the best for it, and are willing to support and stand up for it.

Yours faithfully,

Chris Lindsay
Chair of Governors

Ofsted inspection - June 2018

Dear Parents and Carers,

As you will be aware, Ofsted inspected the school on the 12-13th June 2018.  They have now published their report which I have attached for your information.  This letter outlines the important messages from that report which will form the basis of the school improvement plan and strategic direction.    

We are pleased that Ofsted have recognised that:

• pupils feel safe and are kept safe by a strong safeguarding culture where staff take robust action to protect the children

• the school’s work to promote pupil’s personal development and welfare is good, pupils are proud of their school, enjoy coming to school and demonstrate respect and care for each other

• our early years provision (Year R) is good, adults take good care of the children, the children enjoy learning and make good progress.

It is also clear from the report that a significant number of improvements have been made since the end of January 2018 when Miss Wood joined the school including:

• more children making more progress than they were and catching up to where they should be

• pupils are now being taught phonics well across early years, key stage 1 and are making rapid progress

• the staff are more positive about the school leadership and the support they are getting, which was not the case before.

However, with an overall judgement of Requires Improvement, the school needs to continue to develop in a number of areas.  We need to continue to drive the improvements already put in place and embed them so that they are consistent across the school.  For example, ensuring that:

• teaching is effective everywhere across the school

• the most able pupils are always challenged to deepen their understanding

• consistent high standards of behaviour are upheld throughout the school

• the teaching of our disadvantaged and Special Educational Needs children is consistently good.

Governors have been and will continue to work closely with the school to achieve the high standards and consistency of approach we expect to see and the children deserve.  I know that the staff are committed to this journey too. 

I must also take this opportunity to share some news with regards to Miss Wood. Unfortunately I need to inform you that she has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.  She is currently awaiting surgery and will then have further treatment.  I am sure you will join me in wishing her all the best, and we will be keeping her in our thoughts in the weeks ahead. 

I understand that as parents and carers, you are as keen as we are to secure continuity of leadership for the school.  To that end I can confirm that:  

• this week the Governors begin the recruitment process for a new permanent headteacher. We expect to be in a position to interview and offer the post to the successful candidate in the Autumn term with a view to them starting at the start of the Spring or Summer term

• we are now working with Hampshire to find a suitable acting head to lead the school until Miss Wood is able to return, or the new headteacher is able to start. I will update you as soon as I have these arrangements confirmed.

We know from the parent survey that many of you care deeply about the school, and that your children are happy and enjoying their time here.  Stanmore Primary School has always been a community with a fighting spirit and a strong commitment to achieving more for our children.  As a governing body we are firmly committed to ensuring that improvements are made where they need to be and you can help us, as always, by supporting our teachers and their efforts to achieve high standards consistently for all pupils.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of this letter or the parent survey then please join us at a meeting at either 9:00am, 2:30pm or 6:00pm on Thursday 5th July 2018 at the school.  These sessions are open to all parents and carers.  Please sign in at the school office in time for your chosen session and you will be shown to the meeting room. I look forward to seeing and speaking to as many of you as possible.

Yours faithfully,

Chris Lindsay
Chair of Governors