How I’ll make Elgar a successful school again

Fifty-seven-year-old David Williams spent 16 years as headteacher of Kingsdown School in Swindon before he was asked to turn around Elgar, in Bilford Road, Worcester, which was failed by Ofsted inspectors a fortnight ago.

He knows action is needed and quickly, but is determined to make sure what he does is right for Elgar.

"Schools each have their own ethos, each have their own way of dealing with things," he said.

Mr Williams said there were certain areas raised in the Ofsted inspection that needed to be addressed, as illustrated by the first "chilling" sentence of the subsequent report - the school requires significant improvement'.

"So I will take the areas where I think improvement is necessary," said Mr Williams.

"The Ofsted report will help me with that, but much more important will be the students and the staff.

"You talk to staff - all staff, not just higher levels. You talk to students and get their views because they are the clients and have a clearer idea of what is happening. The biggest critics of disruption in the classroom are the students themselves."

He said a primary objective would be to make sure everyone at the school was acting in unison.

"You have lots of policies and what I shall be looking for is consistency in the allocation of these policies. It's no good if teachers A, B and C are applying it in one direction while D, E and F are applying it in another," he said.

"From that agenda you then write action plans. The local authority, with the governors, has already set about that, which I will look at.

"We then start allocating responsibility to certain individuals and set about doing it. There's a lot in education that is spoken about but it's action that counts, not promises. I want to see that action.

"It's clarity, it's consistency and then it's teamwork. That's the way it works in schools.

"Clarity of what you present, absolute consistency and then, because no one person can achieve anything on their own, teamwork."

Teamwork also means working with education bosses, and Mr Williams can expect plenty of support from the county council in his efforts to turn Elgar around.

Colin Weeden, Worcestershire County Council's head of raising achievement and access to learning, said it was possible to turn round a failing school using the systems in place, as had been proved in the past.

He said the council graded schools from one to six - one being the best and six equating to a school in special measures - and targeted resources and efforts into schools mainly in categories four, five and six.

He said schools needed extra support for different reasons, including a new headteacher who was learning the ropes, difficulties in subject areas and budget problems.

"There are a number of schools that do go into an Ofsted category like Elgar. In one year, there are five or six across the county that get into a more difficult situation," he said.

"At that stage, that's where we offer more intensive support. We provide support from one of our contact inspectors who will work very closely with the head of governors in terms of an action plan and other processes needed to improve.

"We will also often provide additional staff to help them, provide teaching and information and will provide them with financial help. We may also provide additional support staff help."

Mr Weeden said they also offered training for both staff and governors that focused on turning the school around, and said there was a wide range of support packages available.

"In the circumstances where a head may leave the school we help the governors find an alternative head, particularly in cases like this where it needs to be done quickly. In the case of Dave Seddon at Baxter College, we headhunted him.

"We have had a very successful track record of turning round failing schools by taking firm and decisive action and not only that, but we turn them round very quickly."