Tower and Town, March 2019

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Marlborough St Mary's CofE Primary School

How long have you been a Headteacher?

I was Head of the Infants' School, and then I became Head of Marlborough St Mary's when it combined with St Peter's School on this new site. So, about ten years in total.

Managing that move and amalgamation must have provided a few challenges?

We certainly had to fight hard to get the new school building that we wanted against what was being offered initially, but we are thrilled with the resulting design. Managing the two schools on a split site during the building phase created a few issues, and then we had to manage the actual physical move and create the new school - the previous St Mary's and St Peter's were very different, so it was important to start afresh from scratch.

What have been some of the main successes in your first eighteen months in the new school?

We have had a big push to develop the ‘soft’ side of the curriculum - the creative arts and the sports. Today for example our 50-strong choir is heading off to the O2 Arena in London to take part in the Young Voices concert. Over half the KS2 pupils (7- to 11-year-olds) now participate in the after-school sports clubs which we have developed with in-house expertise on the teaching staff. We also had an excellent art exhibition last summer showcasing the children's work.

What are some of the challenges in the future?

We will be due an OFSTED inspection fairly soon and it would be lovely to achieve ‘outstanding’. We have an amazing teaching staff - dedicated and skilful - and we are beginning to see improvements across the board. Reading results for example are much better, and this year our focus is on Maths. We have an excellent resource base for children with special needs, and at the same time we are driving the middle and high-achievers to get better than average results.

And what of the opportunities?

We have had wonderful support from the local community and it would be lovely to build on that, which we are already doing with local schools, with the Church and through visiting the elderly. There's no room for complacency but we are very excited about what the future holds for the school.

Anne Schwodler