People used to feel sorry for you if your child went here...but not any longer (From Southend Standard)

Chase High School head teacher: We're on the up

4:00pm Thursday 23rd February 2012 in Southend By Christine Sexton

THERE is no phone or computer on the headteacher’s desk at Chase High School in Westcliff. Not that Victoria Overy uses it much.

On the odd occasions when she’s not actually out and about in the school, she prefers to have discussions with those who wander in through her open door around a small round table, where there are no distractions.

Mrs Overy, 46, was born and bred in Leigh. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, in London, and taught drama in the capital for ten years before returning to Leigh to bring up her family.

She was deputy headteacher at Chase High for six years, teaching drama and English, before taking over as head in September.

Mrs Overy has witnessed the difficult times the school has been through in recent years, but has watched it slowly improve and she believes it has reached a turning point.

She said: “There was a time when people looked at you in sympathy if you said you had a child at Chase High, but that’s changed, and we have a waiting list for the first time for Year 7s.”

While the school focuses heavily on vocational skills, it is also determined to raise academic standards and to improve the satisfactory Ofsted grading it got in September. To do that, it must meet or exceed the national average of 48 per cent of pupils achieving five A* to C GCSEs.

Last year it achieved 40 per cent, making it the worst performing school in Southend, but that was a huge improvement on the 18 per cent it attained three years previously. It makes it one of the most improved schools in the country. Mrs Overy said: “We came from a very low starting point and are in the top 15 per cent of the most improved schools in the country.

“We have got all of society here, from an A* pupil whose parents didn’t want them to go to a grammar school, to children who struggle with reading and writing but are making good progress because they enjoy school.”

The school’s holistic approach to education means almost every aspect of the 1,115 pupils’ lives at Chase High are taken into consideration. From the social, spiritual and moral well-being of pupils, to academic achievement and vocational training.

Students, particularly those from less affluent homes, benefit from being able to actually earn money while at school.

They get paid £4.50 an hour for taking part in the school’s employment programme – a scheme which pays students to work four to six hours a week.

During breaks, they give extra reading and maths tuition to younger pupils, as well as helping those with special needs.

Mrs Overy said: “It supports students’ financial needs in class so they don’t have to work outside school hours, and it helps instil a work ethos in children. Some may not have that at home.”

The line between home and school at Chase seems less defined than at many schools, but Mrs Overy insists it’s not replacing parents’ role, merely enhancing it.

And links with local businesses through an apprenticeship programme help to smooth the youngsters’ path from education to the world of work.

The sixth form has a hairdressing and beauty salon among its many facilities, but there are other novel opportunities to learn a trade.

Mrs Overy, who employs her own gardener and carpenter at the school, said: “Two lads in the sixth form work with the gardener and two with our carpenter.

“At the moment they are installing a hospitality kitchen which they helped build.

“When you are responsible for a pot of money, it is better to have someone who can get children involved in learning a craft. It’s good work experience and good life experience.”

The focus on self-sufficiency extends to Mrs Overy’s own role in running the business side of things. She said: “I’m writing budgeting for dummies! I now know a lot about European procurement and tendering! People can’t catch me out and I have more money for the kids.

“We are entrusted with money for some of the most vulnerable children, so I need to make sure I am spending it right, so they get the most out of it.”