July 2013

The know zone

  • Secret service
    Free speech and whistleblowing are rights that must be balanced against the rights and reputation of others, including children and the school itself, says Richard Bird. More
  • Goving nowhere
    The fast-changing funding landscape is driving uncertainty and the latest revisions to funding formulae will not help one bit, says Sam Ellis. More
  • Lead vocals
    Quotes from Lao Tzu, Frank Herbert, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Abraham Lincoln and Jim Henson More
  • Appliance of science
    Andrew Squires is deputy head of Denbigh School in Milton Keynes and director of the Denbigh Teaching School Alliance. More
  • Prince's Trust xl clubs
    The Prince’s Trust in-school xl clubs are aimed at re-engaging young people aged 13-19 who are struggling to achieve five A*-C GCSEs and who may be dealing with a wide range of issues including behavioural problems, low attendance and low self-confidence. More
  • Adding value
    Effective feedback is one of the most important factors that affects student progress. IRIS Connect believes that teachers also need effective feedback. More
  • The realms of possibility?
    Moves to set up a Royal College of Teaching are gathering pace. Should teaching have a self-regulating professional body? Will it make a difference? Here leaders share their views. More
  • Leaders' surgery
    Changes to A levels and Tips on engaging with your MP More
  • Explosive situation?
    Punitive, demoralising, threatening… Is this really a culture that nurtures long-term improvement? No, says Brian Lightman. And rushing to bring in performancerelated pay for teachers will only foster more resentment. More
  • Decisions of the head or heart?
    Parents worried about head lice, colleagues confused about job opportunities, meaningless memos. And your school is shortly to close. Oh, the joys of leadership. Thank goodness for students. More
Bookmark and Share

Andrew Squires is deputy head of Denbigh School in Milton Keynes and director of the Denbigh Teaching School Alliance

Appliance of science

Were you always going to be a teacher?

I desperately wanted to be a doctor when I was at school but my head of sixth form said, “You won’t get the grades.” He was right, as it turned out, but science continued to be my passion so I did a microbiology degree. When that finished, one option was becoming an MLSO (medical laboratory scientific officer), working in a hospital with swabs and bodily f luids for £7,000 a year, on call every weekend in three. Then someone mentioned the PGCE and it seemed like a chance to be a student for another year. I did my first teaching practice in some challenging schools in the North East and I loved it.

Your first two school appointments couldn’t have been more different.

At Ilford County High School the headteacher was a fellow Yorkshireman and we got on like a house on fire. That was probably a key element of my appointment as a fresh-faced biology teacher at a grammar school at the top of the league tables. Three years later, I moved down the road to Loxford High School, a comprehensive that was – at the time – at the bottom of the same league tables.

How did the two differ specifically?

Parents’ evenings were interesting. At Ilford, it was all grades and exam-focused but the first question at a Loxford event was always “Is he behaving? I’ll give him a clip around the ear if he’s not.” Parents there viewed a decent schooling as their children’s way out. At Ilford, I sometimes felt the students were achieving regardless of my efforts whereas at Loxford I got a lot of satisfaction from my input into pupils going on to university. Another difference was that I moved from a traditional grammar where I had my own classroom to an open-plan scheme with seven or eight other people in the same space. You learn a lot about yourself and your colleagues in open-plan teaching. There’s little scope for hiding.

But there were similarities...

I went on a field trip to the Isle of Arran as a shiny 17 year-old and I’ve carried that on at every school where I’ve been a teacher. When I took groups from Ilford up there, some of them had never been on a train before, let alone a boat; some had never been too far away from home in any direction. Health and safety was not so much at the forefront of our minds so they had a day to go offon their own investigations, which was a real adventure. Why we re you unable to reta in the staffroom fantasy football league title this season?

Like many other managers, I was title this season?

Like many other managers, I was badly let down by Fernando Torres. I’m a half-full person and stuck with him but he kept proving me wrong. It’s a great team spirit exercise; we have, for example, one senior member of staff who, when she does badly, trots out her stock phrase: “I didn’t pay too much attention this weekend.” It’s a bit like a Year 11 saying, “I’d have done really well in that test if I’d done some revision.”

  • Interview by John Holt

Pro.file

Do you know an ASCL member with an unusual story, interesting background or exceptional achievement to share? If you’d like to recommend someone else or yourself to appear in a future profile, email leader@ascl.org.uk

andrew-squires.jpg

LEADING READING