Grasmere head to help struggling schools (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Grasmere head to help struggling schools

6:50pm Tuesday 13th March 2012 in Grasmere news By Steven Bell, Senior Reporter

A SOUTH Lakeland primary head teacher has scored a major coup after being announced in a crack team of top teachers to help struggling schools.

Grasmere School’s Johanna Goode is one of only 95 head teachers in the country to be appointed a National Leader of Education (NLE).

The National College selects heads and teachers from schools given the top Ofsted rating to be deployed to other schools which are experiencing challenging circumstances.

Mrs Goode and her 11-strong staff will use their expertise to drive forward improvements elsewhere in the country.

It is another big thumbs-up for the 68-pupil school, which last summer rocketed into the top six per cent of primaries nationally after an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating.

Mrs Goode said: “I’m really proud of the fact that we were approached to apply.

“It will be brilliant for our staff who are very excited they have the chance to work with other schools. It’s a great vote of confidence.”

The role of NLEs is to draw on their success by providing additional leadership in struggling schools or those transferring to federation or academy status.

Each deployment is tailor-made to suit each school’s need, and the type of support offered is flexible and can involve NLEs becoming acting head teachers.

They also have responsibility for developing the next generation of NLEs and National Support Schools.

Mrs Goode, who will have a formal induction for the role in April, said working with other schools would benefit Grasmere School.

“You always learn from working with other people,” she said. “Staff here are really interested teachers who want to continue doing their best for all children. It’s difficult to keep learning unless you get out and vary your experiences.”

Mrs Goode said it was important for schools in Cumbria to work with each other to learn and share new practices.

She said: “All schools have something good going on in them. Whenever you go into another school, you see things you learn from.”

The successful head said teachers at Grasmere would take the school’s strengths of curriculum, personalised learning and a strong staff learning culture into struggling schools.

But Mrs Goode added: “Our first love is Grasmere School and that has got to be absolutely at the forefront.”

Toby Salt, National College deputy chief executive, said the NLE scheme was about the ‘best school leaders helping the rest’. He added: “It’s great heads like Johanna Goode are becoming NLEs, looking beyond their school gates to help more pupils get the best start in life.”