1. 1
As you can see frommyemployment historyI have a wealth ofexperience in Education. Whilst myexperience has beenin
one school I have workedfor four, verydifferent, Headteachers and have supportedthe school throughsignificant change.
I started as a newlyqualifiedteacher of FrenchandPE in January1985 and byMarch 1985; I was promotedto Head of
Department. I heldnearlyeverypost of responsibilityin the school, Headof Year, PSHCE Co-ordinator, KS2 Co-ordinator in
school and also as LA representative whenKS2 was first initiated, Designatedlead for Child Protection and Safeguarding(I
was part of EileenMunroe’s research groupwhenshe was reviewing ChildProtectionandSafeguarding)DeputyHead
teacher with responsibilityfor Behaviour andAttendance ( we receivedBeaconstatus for Behaviour andAttendance at this
time) andtheninMay2011 I was throwninto Headshipwhenthe previous Headteacher left without notice.
I was an innovative teacher andleader andhave always beena headof the times inmyattitude to teaching and learning. I
had three main goals;to be the best teacher I could be, to make sure that everychild inmycare was providedwith
opportunitiesto achieve their verybest be it academic, artistic or social and to know that everybodyunder mycare pupil,
staff, parent, visitor was treated withrespect andkindness. Whenpupils left Ashton it was important to me, to know that
whatever their personal history, teachers at Ashtongenuinelycaredabout each and everyone ofthem.
As a teacher I attainedoutstanding teacher recognitioninall except one of our 5 OFSTED inspections – in the other one I
had a 10 minute observationandreceived a Goodbut mylessonwas highlightedinthe report as an exemplarylesson!
I am passionate about leaning for living. As a Frenchteacher, rather thanrelyingon books, it was important to me to bring
French to life. Whenstudying meals andfood, we imaginedwe were TV chefs andboth preparedand recorded the
preparationof a chosenmeal, whentalking about holidays we createdoral postcards – pupils brought the post card to life
whilst telling the audience what they“have done” past tense, aerobics in French, trying to sing the Frenchalphabet to a
popular Christmas Carol or a popular tune. Children will onlywant to learn if theyare enjoyingwhat theyare doing andare
motivatedintheir attempts. One of myyear 8 pupils gained a GCSE inFrenchat A*.
As a PE teacher, sport is a significant part of mylife and again mybeliefis that everychildcanenjoysport if it is taught in
the right way. I rana volleyball club throughout mytime at Ashtonandam proudto sayhave sent pupils onwho have
played for England’s U21 Volleyball squad. I have alsotaught English in Year 8, R.E to year 6 andhave coveredand
supportedmanylessons inbetween.
As a Headteacher I was always fullyinvolvedinall extra-curricular activities, Gym andDance displays, Drama productions,
Music concerts and performancesas wellas the manyevents put on byour PTA. I have organisedandsupported many
school trips to France, Skiing, Outdoor pursuit’s activities, Dell Farm, andmanyothers. I believe that being involved in
activities, suchas the above, makes a huge difference to your relationships withchildren and their parents – it is an
opportunityto build upthat trust and respect that is soimportant inhelping a childto achieve their fullpersonal potential
back at school.
As a leader I wasdrivento enable mystaff to be the best theycould be. I pride myself inrecognising keyskills andbeing
able to place teachers inpositions where those skillscanbe put to best use. I wouldnever askanymember of staff to do
anything that I was not alsopreparedto do. This included preparationof lessons, differentiation, marking, providing a
stimulating environment, wanting the best from everychildno matter what their abilityor background. I have high
personalstandards andI believe mystaff respectedthose standards anddidtheir utmost to support myvisionfor the
school.
Where teachers were not quite soengaged or enthusiastic I didmyutmost to support, to guide andto motivate andmost
importantlyto explainwhyit matters andthe difference it canmake. Some teachers believe the current workloadis
ridiculous and I don’t disagree but myanswer is always that it is upto us, as a team, to support eachother, to do our part
and to lessen that burden; if we are not enjoyingour teaching thenthiswill affect our pupils.
Listening to pupilswas the keyelement inmyleadershipfocus andnot just listening but “hearing” what theyare saying.
Pupil voice is so powerful anda personal passionof mine. For manyyears I co-leada groupcalledUNITED – this was a Pupil
Voice groupwith a focus onIT, (U Need ITinEducation)mypupils spoke at severalNationalconferences as well as
organisinganamazingevent at WoburnSafari park bringing approximately21 schoolstogether ina joint project. Pupils
know what theywant andsometimestheyjust need some guidance in how to make these things possible andin some
cases realistic – like me, manychildren want to run before theycanwalk!
I have always beenkeen and eager to forge links with local schools acrossallkeystages. I was part of a transfer and
transitiongroup that organisedandfacilitated manyprojects across the different school phasesinanattempt to improve
the realisationthat we, as a community, are responsible for the educationof all of our pupils andthat schools shouldnot
work independentlyof each other.
Similarly, I fullyrealisedthe importance of working closelywith parents andestablisheda highlyeffective parent’s forum

2. 2
where issues were decided bythe parent bodyand discussedopenlywithsenior leaders and staffwith particular interests
in those issues. As a consequence valuable changes were made to both curriculum andprocedures.
Our staff turnover at Ashtonwas verysmall but as a newlyappointedHead I was veryaware that significant changes had to
be made. These changes were instigatedthough strategic School Development Planning, rigorous self-evaluationand
focusedPerformance Management strategies. I alsoinitiatedthe introductionof the Classroom Monitor software which
had a significant impact on our abilityto manipulate data andto easilytrackindividualdata preciselyandefficiently. This
has beenparticularlybeneficial whentracking PPpupils andthe SEN groups in all their extremes. The keyto success was
involving stafffullyin our whole school visionandthenworkingas a team. The first two objectives in everybody’s
performance management were exactlythe same witha focus onraising standards and tighteningupon keyissuesthat
make a difference to teachingand learning. The effect of this was individual staff as wellas departmen ts supported each
other to make sure that everybodywouldmeet their targets. Change happened. Our following OFSTEDandrecent HMI
inspection notedthat the school was makingsignificant progressinall of the identifiedareas. Ashtonwas back ontrack!
I am alsoknownin the local authorityfor mywork withvulnerable pupils. Over the years I have become more andmore
aware of the impact of a child’s social backgroundon their abilityto accesslearning or evento adjust to the conforms of an
educationalestablishment. Tenyears agoI was writing to everybodyI couldthink of, about myconcerns over the increase
in mental healthissues in youngchildren – whyhas it taken until nowfor the government to take notice? I knowthat
offering analternative educationmakes a huge difference to these children. This is one area I worked veryhardon over
the past few years. I, personally set about finding grants andpockets ofmoneyto support mybeliefs inthis area. Inthe last
four years I raisedover £55000 pounds. This wasa keyelement inchanges that took place at Ashton. I bought ina
Behaviour Manager, our own School Counsellor (a tremendous asset)as wellas setting upprograms such as the tennis
programme, our DJ academy, our cookeryclub, the Go-Kart Challenge anda real focus onlunchtime activities andthe staff
to support them. Manyof these activities we were using as a means of encouragingpupils to strive to improve a personal
challenge that was preventing themfrom learningbe it;behaviour, attendance, homework or self-esteem. The tennis
programme wasmyfirst experiment andthe impact was extra-ordinary! One pupil’s attendance leapt from 33% to 100% in
a half-term. I hadonlyintendedto employthe twotennis coaches for a half-term; theystayed for 3 and half years!
I seriouslybelieve that state schools have to dosomething to better meet the needs of these children. Societyhas changed
and we are not going to get back the idealistic familyunit – if it ever existed – if we can’t offer anyhope or anypossibility
of a wayout of their social backgroundthen what does their future hold?If we are not prepared to accept and support
who will?
I was a good leader. I have the capacityto motivate and to encourage both pupils and staff. I relished inthe fact that I
could learnas much froma pupil or an LSA as I could from a fullytrained, highlyqualifiedmember of staff and learning
never stops. I workedveryhard andworked untila jobwas done.
Our school has recentlybeengoingthroughthe most horrendous of challenges as the localauthorities initiated changes
from a three system back to two tiers thisleft our parents andour pupilsina state of confusionandangst. I was
responsible for the writingandpresenting of manya public speechinorder to tryandfinda purposeful wayforward. At
the same time I hadto motivate staff to continue to doa goodjob. I think it is remarkable that it is onlyin the last few
months that staff beganto trulyrealise that after 115 years Ashton Middle School was coming to anend, however, we still
had staff offering to fill the gaps evenifjust for a fewmonths andthe parents were still sendingtheir pupils. We must have
been doing something right.
I am not frightenedof change andone of the skills that has beenmost useful to me inmytime is myabilityto see “the big
picture” and to anticipate potential areasfor development andalways withthe pupils as the central focus. I was also an
active part of the Governing bodyfor 25 years and I was responsible for writing the majorityof the current policies and
procedural documents.
LesleyPhillips