In June 2015, Inkersall Primary School in Chesterfield was judged to be good following their Ofsted inspection. Ofsted commented that pupils are making good progress and teaching is typically good and occasionally outstanding. It wasn't always the case. It was only in February 2014 that inspectors had judged the school as inadequate and in need of special measures.
Following the 2014 report, Jonathan Brookes was appointed to the school. This wasn't his first headship, Mr Brookes had been a substantive head and an executive head before, holding both posts at a relatively young age.
Mr Brookes was under no illusion as to the task he was taking on. He was well aware on appointment that the school had issues: "I wanted the challenge," explained Mr Brookes. "As an executive head, I had been responsible for a school that had been judged to be requiring improvement and I helped it reach good. Inkersall was a larger school and it was made clear from the start that the move was not going to be an easy one."
It was this very challenge that attracted Mr Brookes. But he didn't only have a poor inspection report to deal with. The school was receiving a lot of media attention as the secretary of state had decided to intervene and the school was to be made into a sponsored academy.
Parents were up in arms and campaigning against the school becoming an academy with two Facebook groups showing their opposition. Mr Brookes was thrown into the middle of a community struggling to come to terms with the inspection outcome and the prospect of a new school.
After 19 days of being in post the whole of the governing body was removed and an Interim Executive Board (IEB) put into place. What could have become an overwhelming situation in some respects enabled Mr Brookes to get on with the job in hand more easily: "I just got on with the task I was given to do while this was going on around us," he explained. "The IEB and local authority took the brunt of what was happening and I was left alone to work with the school and keep the focus."
The focus being, of course, school improvement and bringing Inkersall as quickly as possible to the standard it deserved to be.
Starting with the staff
There were so many difficulties surrounding the school that Mr Brookes felt it was vital to begin with the staff and allow them to speak.
He continued: "I got them altogether and asked them why they came into teaching and how they felt the school could improve. It broke the ice and raised some smiles as they shared their stories."
Inkersall is a large school with 15 classes and Mr Brookes had to act quickly to get the improvements that were needed in place. However, he still wanted to make sure that there was sincere consultation: "Staff still have to buy in to what they're doing. In the end it's not all about the leadership. Your staff are a powerful force and you need them working with you."
From here he began the process of finding out more about their teaching. Mr Brookes observed them all and used that information to feed into the focus on teaching that he was rapidly developing in the school.
"Teaching and learning and CPD have been emphasised relentlessly throughout," he said. "Every staff meeting, every training session, every observation is about teaching and learning."
Mr Brookes has an interesting approach to his staff meetings. Most heads recognise these meetings as the pivotal communication with their staff but few will approach them with the attention to detail that Mr Brookes does.
"I run my staff meetings like I would a lesson. Each one lasts 40 to 45 minutes and there are no administration items. When I plan them I think about challenge, independent learning and engagement. I think about differentiation. Not all the staff are at the same point in their teaching. I try to use quality of teaching descriptors to evaluate my own leadership and management work."
Mr Brookes evaluates his staff meetings and if he considers one to have been "requiring improvement" then he reflects on how he could have made it better. He wants staff to engage fully in the meeting and involves participants in working with year group partners, talking together and feeding back.
"It's not threatening," Mr Brookes explained. "I just want everyone to be involved. In this way I'm modelling too what I expect from staff. You see some staff meetings that perhaps last for hours and achieve very little."
One thing at a time
With so much to correct it could be tempting to try and address all the issues at once. Mr Brookes is emphatic that this can lead to a loss of focus.
"It's important to take the issues that will have the highest impact on raising achievement first," he explained. In Inkersall's case, they began with the success criteria.
"We tackled the success criteria for six weeks," Mr Brookes said. "So when the HMI returned I could show her what had changed since she'd last been there."
Monitoring focused clearly on the priority area and, unsurprisingly, so did the staff meetings: "We'd look at success criteria together. I'd perhaps put one up and ask people whether it was a good one or not and see if they could spot the mistake. Teachers understood exactly what success criteria were by the time they were using them in the classroom."
Working with others
With Mr Brookes' existing experience he already had clear ideas about how to take Inkersall forward. However, this didn't mean that he wanted to work alone: "I think it's important to join in with peers," he said. "We joined a peer-review group with some well-respected heads. They were invited into the school and asked to give their opinion. You need to be outward-looking.
"This readiness to accept advice is evident in Mr Brookes' approach to working with the HMI: "They can be very supportive if you accept them and work with them. They have expertise and knowledge and you need to stop seeing them as a threat. They are talented professionals after all."
Mr Brookes has used the opportunities available to him to benefit the school. His relationship with HMI is an example of this. Even the outrage of the parents was an energy that he respected and recognised as a positive.
"At least the parents were engaged with the school and showed that they were passionate about their children's education."
Mr Brookes' advice
For those starting the new school year as a new headteacher, whether in a challenging school or not, Mr Brookes advises them to begin with what the stakeholders have to say: "Presume nothing and pre-judge no-one. I found that there was some sensational teaching here. You need an open mind that allows you to judge according to what you find and not, necessarily, what you're told. It means you can judge capacity really quickly and look for improvement quickly too."
Mr Brookes considers that teaching and learning are the key and that the new head should focus on this as much as possible, building a climate that encourages trust: "Go for low-threat, high-impact strategies," he continued. "High-threat activities are no good if you're wanting positive change."
On a personal level he recognises that it can be hard for the new headteacher, particularly if there is a history of failure or conflict.
"You need a thick skin and you mustn't take criticism personally. Lots of people will give you advice about what needs to be done but focus on what you're there for and spend as much time on teaching and learning as you can."
According to Mr Brookes, monitoring needs to be diagnostic and informative rather than punishing and judgemental: "Do your monitoring openly and sincerely. It should lead clearly into CPD opportunities. You don't want people covering up what the real problems are, they need to be open with you."
For the future
As you might expect, Mr Brookes has lots of plans for the new school year. Another focus is boosting attainment through reading initiatives. He has already asked HMI to come into school and provide training for his leaders. He wants to engage with more working partners and is looking towards the university as another source of partnership work.
"You either enjoy the role of headteacher or you don't," he added. "If you enjoy it then the need for challenge and change comes with that too. Be humble when things go well. If you ever think you've cracked it, then it is probably time for you to move on."
About the school
Inkersall Primary School has approximately 427 pupils on roll. The school converted to an academy in September 2015. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for Pupil Premium funding is above the national average. It moved from "inadequate" to "good" in an inspection held in June 2015.
- Suzanne O'Connell is a freelance education writer and a former primary school headteacher.