New headteacher pledges to turn school around (From Southend Standard)
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New headteacher pledges to turn school around
4:20pm Monday 4th February 2013 in Southend
New headteacher pledges to turn school round
A HEADTEACHER has pledged to turn around the fortunes of a primary school following a turbulent year.
Crystal Wiggs joined Porters Grange Primary School in September following a year beset with difficulties including the suspension of its previous headteacher, Ros Ferdinand.
Ms Ferdinand was wrongly accused of fiddling exam results and was cleared of any wrongdoing before she left the school.
Porters Grange, in Southend, was also criticised for spending £200,000 on supply staff and governors fought a battle with Southend Council to increase pupil intake.
But with a new heateacher comes a new chapter, and Mrs Wiggs is determined to move on and improve, with the aim of becoming an outstanding school in the future.
Mrs Wiggs said she had noticed a positive change in the atmosphere around the school since taking charge in September.
She added: “The school has had a turbulent past and I don’t think it helped itself.
“But there is the potential to make really really good improvements here.
“We’re aiming to be an outstanding school.
We’re taking it step-by-step and we don’t have a timeframe but I believe we have the teaching staff and plans in place to make this school an outstanding one.
“I’m genuinely thrilled to be head of this school and one of my main aims is to improve the school’s public image.”
The school has tried to intergrate itself into the community by setting up a parents and teacher’ association, a school council made up of pupils from all years, and public events like a Santa’s Grotto and disco.
Comments(6)
RobertFS
says...
4:49pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Then learn
Keep the parents out who complain about discipline.
artytoit
says...
7:47pm Mon 4 Feb 13
DogsMessInLeigh
says...
9:44pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Chavscum-on-sea
says...
2:28pm Tue 5 Feb 13
southchurchroad
says...
9:34pm Mon 11 Feb 13
The article is very misleading, Miss Wiggs has been at the school for around six months and seemingly a lot of the £200K supply teacher crisis has been under her watch, as has a marked amount of general confusion, and a massive push towards (given the social circumstances of the school) 100% attendance.
If you go and look at the ofsted reports online for the school the school has already had a massive turnaround- the last few years under Ms Ferdinand saw scores rise dramatically because she had a good understanding that her students families came from a wide selection of abilities, she also resisted the tories constant attempts to jam even more kids into an already crowded school. None of that had anything to do with Mrs Wiggs
The school has also been very tight lipped on the circumstances behind Ms Ferdinand's retirement, and over the handling of the continued staffing issues at the school. My daughter's teacher (who is an excellent teacher) seems really demoralised and on edge, as do most other teachers/assistants around the place.
“I’m genuinely thrilled to be head of this school and one of my main aims is to improve the school’s public image.”
I would much rather you concentrated on getting the staff happy again and getting after schools clubs e.t.c started again, rather than worrying about the "public image" of the school.
rhowes says...
4:43pm Mon 4 Feb 13
Happily, the inventor of the discoteque died a few years ago. Good luck to the new head and all involved.