We are fast approaching the end of this half term and I shared earlier in the year that I was expecting my first baby so I would be going on maternity leave later in the year. The weeks have flown by and I will soon be starting my maternity leave, therefore, I just wanted to update parents with plans for leadership cover during my absence.
My last day will be Friday 18th June which will allow me to have a couple of days rest (hopefully) before my due date which is Monday 21st June; I will have two weeks back in school after the half term break.
I am so incredibly proud of how far we have come as a school this year despite the challenges faced by C-19 and I am confident that the leadership team, along with the Executive Team from the XP Trust will continue to drive the school forward, to be the best we can be for our pupils.
You may, or may not be aware, but during the Summer Term last year, ahead of September, we created a new Senior Leadership Team structure, following our Ofsted Monitoring Inspection, whereby the inspector acknowledged that the school had faced significant staffing turbulence including some instability in terms of leadership due to maternity leaves during the previous 12 months.
Therefore, it was my goal to create a leadership structure that would provide the capacity required in order to rapidly improve the school, and would even allow for this to happen if a member of the Senior Team was to go on maternity leave.
The additional capacity in terms of leadership this year has supported me as Headteacher to accelerate progress made within the school and will now also provide the stability in which the school needs whilst I am on maternity leave.
From September, the Carcroft Senior Leadership Team will be as follows:
Mrs Lythe- Business Manager (Business/Admin)
Miss Whitehead- Head of EYFS 1 and 2 (EYFS)
Mr Longley- Head of Year 1 and 2 (KS1)
Mr Tucker- Head of Year 3 and 4 (Lower KS2)
Mrs Fox- Head of Year 5 and 6 (Upper KS2)
This fabulous team of people have supported me this year and understand the way in which our school works and fully understand how to best meet the needs of our pupils and our families. We would not have made the amazing progress in which we have this year without them.
This academic year, parents and carers have already made contact with their Head of Key Stage/Phase Leader when they have had any problems and rarely have I been needed to get involved, as leaders have been able to effectively deal with any problems without my support.
In 2021/2022 and beyond, this is a model in which we would love to develop further, whereby Parents and Carers work with their Child’s Class Teacher to resolve anything in the first instance but then make contact with the Head of Key Stage if they are still not satisfied.
I am confident that Leaders will work with you to resolve the issue, however, there will be an additional layer of leadership whilst I am on maternity leave to support in case of any problems which is kindly being provided by the XP Trust.
Mr Butler, Executive Headteacher from the XP Trust will oversee the school during my maternity leave, spending approximately 50% of his week at the site and managing remotely for the remaining 50%. He will mainly support the Heads of Key Stage in order to further develop as leaders, who will in turn, in theory run their own mini school within a school- a model in which we have been developing together this year. Mr Butler has already worked with the leaders at Carcroft and already has a good understanding of the way in which the school works, as we have based much of our improvement work upon the XP model this academic year, so in terms of transition, it should be nice and smooth.
I know that together, Mr Butler and the Senior Team will do a fabulous job in terms of moving our school forward during my 9 months of leave and I will never be too far away.
I am sure that I will see many of you during the Summer Term because all being well we are hoping to be able to host some of our annual summer events and I would love to attend, albeit with baby in tow.
Finally, I will also be attending the Y6 Prom and Leavers event during the last week, in order to wish them farewell and the best of luck for the future.
So, in case I do not get the chance to do so, I would like to thank parents for being absolutely amazing this academic year, it’s been such a difficult year for everyone; leading a school during a pandemic has been far from easy, but with your help and support, we have done amazing and achieved such great things.
Have a lovely half term break when we get there.
Regards,
Miss Laing
Headteacher