Head teacher leaving our 1st choice school. Should I be worried?

[goodtoesnaughtytoes]

Dd1 starts reception in Sept. Just found out at church today that the headmistress of 12 years is leaving at Easter to become an Academy Leadership Development Officer. It is a CofE school, Ofsted Outstanding. A new head will be appointed to start in September. Should I be nervous? How much does a school reflect the head teacher? I imagine it is quite a lot....?

My observation is that a good school has positive momentum and won't be that affected by a new head.

Hi goodtoesnaughtyshoes I'm wondering if you live in the same village as near me.

I'm in exactly the same position but am not worried.

An outstanding school is unlikely to crumble overnight, also an outstanding school is likely to have outstanding teachers, governors, strategies etc

I would have thought that they would also find it easy to appoint another excellent head as they'll have the pick of the candidates.

Plus - and this is the thing - a kid's experience at school is about so many things. The friemds they make, their relationship with the teachers, etc. Their school experience is about navigating all of this.

DD1 goes to a different school from the one that we've applied to for DD2 and that also has it's own different issues - all of them will.

It's hard not to worry, but try not to

now to stalk goodtoesnaughtyshoes to see if there's a possibility she could live near me

See grovel said it so much better and shorter

Sorry! it's goodtoesnaughttoes!!

Ninja, can I ask why you have chosen a different school for dd2? I think we are talking about the same school.

DD1 will be in year 6 so I didn't think the same school had to be automatic.

There are a couple of reasons that I've agonised over chosen a different school.

1. DD2 has more friends in the other school (as do I!)

2. I was worried about the change in intake of DD1's school as I don't think it's physically big enough to get any bigger. It could be great if they get a new building/classroom for the reception class and nursery but it's not given

There's more in these threads here and here

I won't be unhappy if she goes to the other school though. As you can see I agonise as much as you do!

Pretty certain we're talking about the same school - if we both get in should I be looking about for a potential mumsnetter or should I ignore the fact that I saw you on this thread?

What a coincidence that I should have clicked on it!

I would wonder why if the head is leaving at Easter a new one won't be appointed until September

Probably a better choice of candidates if you wait until September - I think the deputy is going to stand in which isn't unusual

A head teacher must give three months notice so advertising now would allow for a new head to be in place to ensure continuity. I would imagine good candidates would be interested in an "outstanding" school.

Agree with others. An outstanding school will usually have very good (at least) teachers/governors/policies and will also have the pick of excellent candidates for the new Head. I wouldn't be too concerned (though I know the parents at ds's old primary would devastated to lose 'their' Head, I also know he would be leaving behind a fantastic legacy).

It says on the school website that the Deputy will be covering as 'Acting Head' during the summer term.

Hmm well our school plummeted from Outstanding to Satisfactory within 4 years when the head left. We had the new head start just as my dc did.Several of the old staff have left over time and there seems to be a lot of long term and short term illness amongst those left. An Ofsted report guarantees you nothing if the person who achieved it isn't there to keep things in place.

Which is why I wouldn't go on an Ofsted report alone.If it does fall in standards you want other qualities to keep you there as it isn't that easy to just leave.Our school is part of the community,great facilities and there is little bullying and behaviour good imvho.My dc are very happy and it would be counter productive to move them as a move can cause a dip in progress,unhappiness and you don't know what problems exist in other schools.Not saying I'm thrilled with some things but there you go.

Have several friends working in education and from what they say there is a difficulty in getting good heads at the moment which is hardly surprising given the current climate.

So basically if you've picked a school purely on it's Ofsted report and you only want Outstanding then yes I'd be worried but if you've looked at the bigger picture then not so much.

Also I think a lot of good candidates that are confident in their abilities would prefer a school they could get their teeth into and build up,perhaps some may think an Outstanding school is an easy option.

We have a friend who has turned a school around into an Oustanding one and it's not for the faint hearted. I think it takes a special person which is why they get snapped up like the head in your op.

I think an outstanding church school (especially if it is the south of England) and rural has statistically quite high odds of having to through more than one round of applications to find someone suitable.

I know when the headship became available at the school I was a governor of I thought we would have no problems, but in fact none of the candidates from the first round were up to much. I looked at the recruitment statistics somewhere on line and realised we would not be alone..

2nd round produced one excellent candidate luckily (but only one, we didn't have a choice of which one to pick as again the others were just under whelming).

It was good in the previous inspection and they've made it harder now so might go back to good again - tbh I'm not that pushed about what OFSTED say.

As tiggytape said

Often Outstanding Schools have other things going for them that contribute to their status eg strong governing body, involved parents, 'easy' intake of children, tried and trusted systems embedded in place, good resources, the ability to attract and retain good staff etc.

It has all these things and will be fine :)

I would assume the Deputy Head is also hoping to step up to Head in the long term and this will help them gain a bit of leadership experience.

You don't like in Brackley do you?
Same thing happening here. I checked the old ofsted reports / asked parents and seems the school was not doing very well before the current soon to be ex head came along, and during her time here there have been a lot of new staff brought in (better ones). However i definitly got the impression it was the vigour and enthusiasm of the head that was the glue holding the place together.
They have appointed the deputy head here so perhaps she will keep up the momentum as she is already familiar with the style of learning (I was particular impressed by the emphasis on parent engagement with children's learning) however this could also mean the school hasn't sought out the best candidate but rather the most familiar one as they did have a job advert out, which I suspect may have just been box ticking.
I personally feel the lack of inspections following the outstanding report and the new headteacher make it a huge gamble for us parents in this position! It is a risk, but any new school is I suppose. Especially if, like this school, a lot of the kids there come from less well off backgrounds compared to some of the other local schools (which aren't, however, outstanding.)
The primary school up the road has very good KS1 results so that is definitely an option if things get very bad!
If you don't like it you can always move them, or at least that is my philosophy as without a good education they aren't going to get very far in life.

actually, appendum, I take the point of the person who said that it's very hard to change them once they've made friends etc. In that respect, gambles may not be worth the risk unless the school has survived changes of heads successfully in the past.

Our local outstanding primary had a fab head. He left to take up a headship in a challenging school. 3 years later the outstanding primary has just gone into special measures. Direct result of the new head not being up to the job. The school is in a wealthy area and has interested and engaged pupils and parents and yet the very poor leadership has led to this.

By definition a Head not yet appointed is an unknown quantity. This always worries parents. Yet Heads move, get promoted, retire. And so new Heads have to be appointed. The Governors will be very anxious to get a good Head. This takes time, so a really good sign that they are planning in a period in which the Deputy is acting. Excellent development opportunity for the Deputy as well. I see no cause for pessimism.