Hanging with Miss Cooper in the Time Out Room – PP176

In a varied episode, Ollie Frith speaks to Primary Headteacher, Anne Cooper, from Bell Farm Primary. She has taken her school from ‘Serious Weaknesses’ to a ‘Good’ rating and shares some of her successful approaches. She felt that the decision on her school’s original rating was made very quickly at the start of the day and then the rest of the inspection was spent justifying that rating. It took Anne and her team only 15 months to reverse the rating and she is very proud of that. “But really, I’m most proud of the children and staff who were so dedicated to putting things right.” Anne talks about the importance of changing people’s opinions, perceptions and expectations for the children. There was a history of low aspiration and underachievement before Anne arrives at the school. She then went on to focus on the quality of teaching and learning. The three people who Anne identifies are crucial to the success of Bell Farm are: * The Chair of Governors, who is a critical friend and is always there for her when times are difficult * The Deputy Headteacher, who Anne made sure was an equal partner in improving the school * Ane’s PA, who is a great support as are the whole admin team who are a very important link to the outside world School Twitter account – @bellfarmschool  School website – http://bell-farm.co.uk/ In a new segment, we find out Who’s Been at Pivotal HQ This Week (It’s Darrell Williams! Darrell Williams – Principal Trainer) and there’s more Education News as well. Contains sounds from the following sources: storm door slam 02.wav by volivieri is licensed under the Attribution License birds chirping.WAV by fotis_p is licensed under the Attribution Noncommercial License. Bird Whistling, A.wav by InspectorJ is licensed under the Attribution License.