Letter from Mr. Sharp about September 2020 and the Future

Dear Parents/Carers

I am writing to explain how excited, pleased and honoured I feel to be appointed by the Governing Body to the position of Head Teacher from September 2020. To be given the opportunity to lead our school in the next chapter of its long history is a challenge I am very much looking forward to. I don’t think anyone would say that this is the ideal time to become a Head Teacher, but I firmly believe that this is the best school to do so in. When I moved to Manchester in 2003 from my home town of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria I felt nervous and even a little scared about the unknown and the step I was taking, but the whole All Saints family welcomed me so warmly, as they have done with so many before and since, that I instantly loved the school and definitely now call this my home.

The first thing I want to do is to pay huge tribute to Mrs. Tennant who appointed me as a Newly Qualified Teacher back in 2003. I will always be thankful to her for giving me the opportunity to teach and lead at this wonderful school. I know I am certainly not alone in feeling this way as she has supported thousands of children, staff members, governors and families during her time here. I doubt there has been a more distinguished Head Teacher in the history of the school and one who has made such a difference. Through working so closely with her for so long, I can tell you that she has worked incredibly hard and dealt with great pressures on many occasions, but always done so with such calmness that hardly anyone else would have noticed. Her constant professionalism coupled with her calm, caring and compassionate personality makes her a difficult person to follow and I will miss her greatly, as I know everyone else will too. Given the current circumstances we might not be able to immediately give her the send off she deserves, but I can promise you that when the time is right we will make sure we do. This is also true for any other members of the school who move on to new things, especially the Year 6 children.

As I progressed through the rigorous recruitment process, one of my main messages was that I would strive to protect the caring and inclusive ethos of the school and continue to promote the values at the centre of everything we do. As a Church of England School so closely linked with All Saints Church, the Christian values shared by other faiths and beliefs, of love, honesty, perseverance and compassion are the foundation of what we do and why we do it. These are values that I believe in passionately and try to live by personally and professionally. Many of you will already know that I have high (and hopefully reasonable) expectations of the children with regards to their behaviour towards others and their attitude to learning. It is with high expectations that we show the children that we believe in them and their abilities, hopefully making them more self-confident as a result. To maintain these high expectations and standards we must always strive to be good role models ourselves, provide challenge, question, nurture, praise, celebrate, as well as reflecting on the mistakes that we all make and embrace them as an opportunity to learn. As a parent myself grappling with working from home every other week and trying to support my two children with home learning, I certainly feel that I am regularly presented with many opportunities to reflect on myself and my mistakes during this difficult time.

My personal vision for education is a simple but challenging one and is based on my values as well as the experiences I have had working at our school for 17 years. It is that we should aim for the children to be:

Healthy, Happy and Confident

Initially this might seem simple and easy to achieve. However, I would say that these aims are the hardest to achieve, maintain and develop in childhood and as an adult. Personally I find keeping healthy, happy and confident more challenging as an adult than I do reading, writing, completing calculations, drawing etc. ‘Primary aims’ for ‘primary education’ I believe prepare children for future learning, developing positive relationships through life and to have the choices we want them to have when they grow up. Why do we come to school? Why is it important to learn new skills and knowledge? Why is it important to build positive relationships? Why is it important to get a job? Eventually, when you keep asking yourself these questions, I think you get back to these aims. I feel incredibly fortunate to be given the opportunity to lead a school where these aims are already valued, strengthened by the more specific ones below.

As you all know, it is a very big challenge to achieve all these aims purely through time spent in school. As children spend only about 20% of the year in school and 80% with their families, the better the working relationship is between school and families, the better the outcomes will be for the children. In my new role, I want to build a close, open and constructive relationship with you all so that we regularly hear your views, as well as explaining why we are taking certain approaches in school. Due to the large number of people within the All Saints community, I can’t promise that there will always be complete agreement, but if everyone remembers that each person cares very deeply about the welfare of the children, listens politely, keeps calm and respects other views, then we can continue to move the school forward.

Bringing things back to the present and September. Mrs. Tennant, myself, the Governing Body and all the whole staff are working extremely hard together to ensure that the children are safe, healthy and well supported in this incredibly difficult time. It is likely that the school hasn’t faced a challenge as big and as complex as this before, and it is a tribute to both staff and families how well everyone is pulling together to support each other. We will continue to communicate with you regularly and take on board your very insightful ideas and opinions. We are all missing the children terribly and can’t wait to have them back when it is safe to do so. All the staff care very deeply about the children and it is a huge strength of the school that ’everything is for the children’.

As the current situation is changing from week to week it is difficult to say exactly how the school will be operating in September, but what I can say is that the values, principles and ethos will remain the same. Health, safety, emotional wellbeing and moving learning forward together. I am delighted to say that we have already appointed a new Deputy Head Teacher, Mrs. R. Flatman, who is currently an Assistant Head Teacher in a school in Rochdale. Once she has had an opportunity to get to know the children and staff better, she will be leading on many crucial areas which are so important to us in ‘normal’ times but even more so now. As well as supporting me and the rest of the staff with adapting in these changing times, she will bring a wealth of experience to lead on Safeguarding, Emotional Wellbeing and Behaviour, R.E. and Worship and Support for Families. One of the main adjustments we will making in September is to the curriculum to reflect the needs of the children as they deal with the ‘new normal’ caused by the coronavirus. We will be spending more time on the following:

• Knowing how to keep safe and healthy

• Rebuilding routines and behaviour expectations

• Exploring and discussing our feelings

• Focusing on social awareness

• Rebuilding confidence in a school setting

• Listening skills and memory

• Speaking to each other clearly and expressively

• Enjoyment of reading, including accuracy and fluency

• Further developing maths fluency

• Collaborating and sharing with each other (safely) across a broad curriculum

• Physical exercise

I am very confident that Mrs. Flatman will be a great addition to the team and I know she is very much looking forward to getting to know you all.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this letter and if there is anything at all you want to ask or tell me, no matter how big or small, then please get in touch with me at enquires@allsaintsnh-pri.manchester.sch.uk. I am eager to continue working with you all in my new role as Head Teacher to build on the many improvements made under Mrs. Tennant. 

Thank you for your support in the past and for that to come.

Yours sincerely

Mr. J. Sharp

Deputy Head Teacher / Head Teacher from September 2020