I welcome the final part of the Steer report ("Steer tells alarmists to behave themselves", April 24). I agree with Sir Alan's findings that most children in school in the UK behave well. That has been my experience as head of three London schools over the past 14 years. Two of them had been in special measures. Even in such schools - one was deemed the second-worst in London in 2007 - most pupils, 900 out of 1,000, never put a foot wrong.
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Trevor Averre Beeson took over as headteacher at Islington Green school in April "with a discipline system in my pocket, ready to put into place", a determination that the school should have a non-exclusion policy, and an unwavering confidence that he could turn around this inner-city secondary school which he believes had "lost its way and lost grip of its own image in the community".
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On Islington Green School-
I have just completed 5-years as Headteacher of Islington Green School and it has been the most exciting and rewarding time of my professional career – which has now reached a quarter of a century
I am sad to leave behind a lot of friends, colleagues and students who have all worked hard together to ensure that Islington Green has become one of the most improved schools in London .When I was appointed back in October 2001 you may or may not recall that the school was in a bit of a bad way – it had been placed in “Special Measures” and then “Serious Weaknesses” for having failed its Ofsted inspection. The school was excluding over 300 students a year, had very poor exam results (20% at KS3 and KS4) and had a terrible local and national reputation – despite the continuing hard work of many staff. Bit by bit, together we changed that view:-
· We passed our Ofsted inspection in February 2003!
· Exclusions all but stopped straight away!!
· By 2004 the results reached 37% at GCSE.
· This year they are above 40% and SATs above 50%.
· You will remember the introduction of the Exclusion Room.
· The colour purple everywhere.
· Blazers (purple of course!)
· Lots of new facilities; Performing Arts, a new-look Hall, £500,000-worth of new ICT equipment, a new Reception area, playground facilities and a new-look canteen serving healthier food.
I consider my greatest personal achievement for the school was to appoint first-class staff in the Faculties. When I joined the school, half the staff were temporary. We now have well-qualified, permanent staff all around the school. Isling now an over-subscribed and popular school.
When Ofsted described me as a “visionary and transformational Headteacher” I was very flattered – but wondered if it was a bit over the top – but I think I can reasonably say the school has transformed and I am proud to have helped create a calm, popular, hugely-improved school.
I believe the Academy in 2008 will make Islington Green the school of excellence it deserves to be and I hope my legacy for starting off the Academy process will be a high-quality school for our local community.
My Principal Deputy, Angela Gartland, retired last summer and her Deputy, Emma Catt, set off travelling around the world – and I now follow them. I am greatly indebted to them and all staff for the work that has made Islington Green what it is today.
I am also fascinated by the profile the school has had – in the last 5 years we have had (as you know) visits from:
· The Education minister (twice)
· The Prime Minister's right-hand man (Alistair Campbell)
· Lord Hattersley (formerly Home Secretary)
· Lord Putnam
· The Lord Chancellor
· The Japanese ex-Prime Minister and Education Minister (and their entire Cabinet!)
· The BBC
· ITV
· Teachers' TV
· The Guardian
· The Independent
· Many more international and local press. I have also been very lucky to be invited to speak at many schools and conferences in the UK , in Serbia and in the USA . It has been a great experience to be part of.
I am very excited about my personal future and look forward to working with other London Headteachers – supporting and promoting their work on behalf of the National College and the DfES.
We will, I think, be following each other's progress closely for some time to come. Islington Green has always been great and I know it will continue to be so. All the very best for the future.
Trevor Averre-Beeson October 2006
Trevor Averre-Beeson, the head teacher, argues that it is parents who are keen for their children to attend a school with a posh uniform and that, if managed sensibly, uniforms do not have to be prohibitively expensive. Much of the uniform - black trousers and white shirt - can be bought anywhere. "I'm very aware of all the concerns about expense," he says. "We serve a quite challenging community, and we deliberately sorted out a company that would supply the uniform at a reasonable price and let parents pay in instalments. We also waived our commission - which knocked £3 off the price - and have a support fund to help parents who can't afford it."
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Over the years, headteacher Trevor Averre-Beeson has grown to hate the ineffective school bell, which is rung twice a day in a fruitless attempt to persuade students to get back to lessons on time.
John Bayley trains Averre-Beeson's sceptical team to encourage students to return to lessons themselves rather than rely on the bell.
He encourages them to do this with a mixture of gentle persuasion and constant reminders that break is now over. Before the bell-less break was introduced it took a minimum of 12 minutes for all students to return to class. Now, it takes less than half that time.
Two months later the bell remains silent.
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Trevor Averre-Beeson, the head of Islington Green, was head of a thriving east London school until he too was approached by CEA. Like Mannion, he is a profound opponent of exclusion when it is a euphemism for being sent home. He has installed the now-common "exclusion room", to which miscreants are sent for a period of intensive study under the supervision of a mentor and he has taken the "teach rather than punish" principle a step further. Persistent offenders are sent to work with Fresh Start, a local organisation that specialises in "restorative justice". As a result, only three pupils were permanently excluded from Islington Green last year. Mannion, in the smaller St Aloysius, excluded none.
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