It’s Christmas – and it’s a new chapterforourbrilliantschool

I DON’T often discuss Eastern High specifically in these articles, but Christmas has come early for us and so I may have to break a rule.

As you may already know we are moving into a new building next week and a few weeks ago we were officially taken out of special measures by education watchdog Estyn. So, there is plenty to celebrate. Coming out of special measures and at the same time preparing for a move into a new building has been a long, hard journey, which has involved many people and organisations.

In the media, the headteacher is often the one who gives the quotes and gets the recognition, but there are so many others involved in processes such as these.

It may give you a better idea of what goes into bringing about school improvement by considering those who have contributed to our success and our new building.

There are the organisations such as the Welsh Government, the council and the South Central Consortium (the school training and advisory service that Cardiff buys into).

The Welsh Government provided much-needed additional funding through “challenge Cymru”. This helped us to focus on raising attainment and catching up on lost ground.

For example, it helped fund temporary maths teachers from Cardiff High to help us run additional revision sessions. It also provided a challenge advisor, who gave us added capacity when it came to training our staff.

The South Central Consortium provided advisors for various departments. They especially helped me when it came to learning about the Welsh education system.

The council has supported us in many ways over the last three years, from managing the building project – giving the current school a muchneeded refurbishment – to initially providing youth workers to work closely with our students after the report which took us into special measures.

The youth workers were fantastic. They do a brilliant job in the community and they form really effective relationships with young people which we gained much from.

There are the various business and local organisations who have played an important part in helping us. For example, ITV News works closely with our English department and offers mentoring to our senior team.

Deloitte graduates provide Year 11 mentors and Full Circle who help our students publish our Eastern Chatter magazine each month.

The local St Mellons Rotary Club has also been especially helpful in sponsoring our annual Year 7 Storey Arms residential and other activities.

The local chaplains have tirelessly supported us taking weekly personal and social education lessons and providing both staff and students with treats such as cakes and Easter eggs!

There are also companies such as Volkswagen or local small businesses who provide valued work placements for some of our students.

Our governors have been a great source of help, giving advice both from a position of expertise or from the layperson’s perspective.

Governors work with schools on a voluntary basis and give up much of their time to work with their school.

Our governors are no exception. In addition to all the meetings they attend, they also attend school events and celebrations.

There have also been additional new building-related meetings to attend. The staff in our school have been incredibly resilient and hardworking, some in school on a daily basis for up to 12 hours. It was difficult three years ago and, at times, they must have dreaded turning up for work. There were tears in the eyes of many when we finally came out of special measures – it was an emotional moment for all those who had been part of Rumney or Llanrumney school. The senior team in the school also need a mention. They had to learn quickly and worked extremely hard to develop and improve all our systems and processes. We certainly wouldn’t be in the good position we are in now if it wasn’t for them.

Our parents in the local community have supported us throughout. They could have taken their students out during the difficult times, but we have had constant words of encouragement from many and our numbers are now rising rapidly each year, which shows the confidence they now have in us.

And, finally, the pupils, who it was all too easy to criticise for having bad behaviour three years ago, but who have pulled themselves around with the help of good teaching and lots of encouragement.

There will always be, in all schools, times when young people make errors of judgement and behave badly, but with guidance and support where appropriate they always give you rewarding moments.

Eastern High pupils have certainly been no exception.

I hope this hasn’t sounded like some sort of gushing thank you speech, I just think it’s important that everyone recognises the amount of support schools and, in this case, Eastern High receives. There is never enough money to go around and so schools do rely heavily on voluntary and/or gratis support from organisations and individuals. Their support is invaluable. We’re moving into our new building now and a new chapter opens for Eastern High.

We’re looking forward to our partnership with Cardiff and Vale College, who have also given us much support over the past few years, such as providing governors or curriculum support.

I mentioned to one of our governors the other day that I feel like a child who has been given something like a puppy for Christmas (in my case two presents).

I should be really happy, but at the same time I feel so nervous.

We’ve all rebuilt a school, in both bricks and mortar and educationally, and now there is a lot of responsibility weighing down on us.

The governor replied: “And just like a puppy, you’ll have to look after it, train and nurture it so that does just as the school vision states, it goes on to flourish in life.”

I hope your Christmas presents are as good as the two we’ve had. Merry Christmas!