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