Rob Edwards, Headteacher at Newtown High School, Powys, explains how Leadership and Management qualifications helped lead his school out of special measures.
In May 2015, an Estyn core inspection found the school to be “adequate”. A monitoring visit in 2018 found that the school had made insufficient progress against a number of recommendations and was placed in Special Measures. Estyn made seven recommendations, which varied from improving standards, and improving teaching and learning, but with a specific recommendation to address leadership across the board in the school.
Rob was appointed as Headteacher in 2018, with a clear remit of taking the school out of the Estyn category, and in October 2021, Estyn deemed that the school had made sufficient progress to be taken out of special measures.
“That’s not to say that we are the finished article. We will not be complacent. There are areas for development that we need to address as we aim to become a consistently good school”. Rob said.
18 staff members have either completed or are working towards a Higher Apprenticeship (Levels 4 and 5) in Leadership and Management, and the qualifications have also led to five members being promoted to the Senior Leadership Team.
Rob said: “The current leadership team is a team that I’ve been able to shape and professionally develop staff using a range of systems and processes. The ILM course has really challenged staff, and it’s helped develop a reflective culture within the school where leaders are able to highlight their strengths and identify areas for improvement, using a range of diagnostic assessment tools and reflecting against the leadership standards”.
Level 5 Learner Natalie Havard added: “The course has helped me to plan more effectively for change management and to understand the different needs of different managers and how to ensure they work effectively to make changes within the school.”
On top of completing their Leadership and Management qualifications, Rob and his team agreed on their own leadership values for the school, and created “The Six Cs of Leadership”, which includes Culture, Climate, Consistency, Collaboration, Capacity and Challenge. There is of course the seventh C, good communication, which is absolutely key.
He added: “It’s what we call our cultural norms, something that we would hang our hat on, this is what I would expect good leadership to show on a daily basis at the school.”
In addition to achieving the goal of leading the school out of special measures, the improved leadership resulted in improved student outcomes, improved learning experiences and student wellbeing. There has been a significant improvement in behaviour as well as increased attendance, rising from 94% when Rob first joined the school, to 95.5% in just 12 months, moving from the bottom of BMQ 4 to the top of BMQ 1. The school successfully managed to maintain that percentage until the Covid-19 pandemic. As schools recover from the pandemic the same attendance structures are in place that ensure that attendance is the best that it can be.
The qualifications also opened up some exciting opportunities for the staff. Two members of staff are working with Partneriaeth, Ceredigion and Powys, leading middle leadership training across the region. Three other leaders are working with the local authorities on secondary school improvement strategy.
Rob said: “I am incredibly proud of the team. They have been on a steep learning curve, are resilient, driven, incredibly humble and reflective and are always looking at how they can become better”
Reflecting on the school’s journey so far, Rob said: “Portal has played an important part in the school’s journey, and the quality of leadership guidance that my staff have had, has been absolutely first class.”
“I am incredibly proud of my staff to get through this qualification, in addition to taking the school out of Special Measures and to deal with the challenges of the pandemic all at the same time. I would also like to thank the staff at Portal for the support and belief they have had in my staff. There have been times where they have understood where there are pressure points and provided some freedom but also when staff need to have that extra challenge to get over the line. Portal staff have definitely provided a good blend of support and challenge and we are grateful for this.”
We concluded our catch up with Rob by asking the million-pound question, what advice would you give to other schools in a similar situation, or looking to improve their leadership?
“You’ve got to have a strong vision, have the emotional intelligence to understand that excellent leadership is about bringing people with you. You have to believe in your ability to bring about change. You’ve got to understand change, and you’ve got to have that moral purpose to want to make a change”.
“Part of that is about developing culture and climate in your school, where you get buy in and that discretionary effort, where people go the extra mile”.
“A good phrase that I use is from a book by Stephen Covey: ‘Keep the main thing, the main thing.’ You can get caught up in so much peripheral stuff, but keep it the main thing, as the focus is key”.
“Leadership is about inner steel and determination but also about keeping everything in perspective and having a good sense of humour. There will be plenty of occasions where it’s not going to be your day, and you need to be able to reflect, switch off, spend time with loved ones and come back stronger the next day, and be ready to go again.”
*Pictured: Newtown High School headteacher Robert Edwards with Cate Harnden from Portal Training and staff Natalie Havard, Ben Jones, Hannah Walton and Sally Huxley.
