How important is the Headteacher to long-term performance of a primary school?

[HeadBasher2018]

I am having last minute jitters about our choice of primary school for our eldest DC.

There are lots of factors to consider, but one thing I am worried about and would love some thoughts on, is the importance of the Headteacher.

Our closest school was Outstanding until 2014 when it got downgraded to Good, a few months after a new head arrived. The parents I know there seem to still rate it really well. We would be pretty much guaranteed to get a place.

There is another school a few minutes further away. We’d have maybe a 20% chance of getting in. It’s Outstanding, and had excellent results in the recent league tables published.

To be blunt, the head of the Good school doesn’t impress me. She is not a good public speaker and seems to be a bit dithery. She doesn’t really exude authority or intelligence. At the same time I’ve noticed her be a bit dismissive of parents’ questions, and I have noticed her speaking over her teachers once or twice. Written communications have typos. She seems to be a bit deluded in saying how well the school did in the recent league tables (in the school newsletter). It did ok but not fantastic and I would have expected a bit of reflection on certain obvious areas for improvement.

Her experience seems to be with special measures schools - she has a good track record of turning them around, so another concern is that she could be resting on her laurels at the Good school as Good is ‘good enough’...

So - a question for those who work in schools - how important is the headteacher in the overall performance of a primary school?

Could a head with a disagreeable personality, or even just a lack of authority, or a lack of ambition for the school, result in good teachers leaving the school? Or not performing to their best?

Given that she doesn’t come across that well, is that likely to have negatively impacted the ofsted rating, as she won’t have been able to think on her feet answering tricky questions, talking it up, giving examples of things etc? (sounds very patronising but I can’t think of another way of putting it!) I don’t know anything about how the inspections work so please tell me if this is ridiculous.

The difference between her and the head of the other Outstanding School was so stark in the way they presented their open days - the Outstanding head was so polished, articulate, thoughtful, intelligent, prepared. On the other hand the Good head didn’t seem to care what we thought of the school. She hadn’t prepared what to talk about and spoke about random things that popped into her head, didn’t even think to introduce herself. (I attended 3 open days over the years and all the same.)

I know I am lucky to have a Good school close by. I think if we put the Outstanding School first preference and didn’t get in, I would be very happy with DC then going to the Good school. It is closer and has other redeeming qualities. But I might feel guilty if I don’t even try for the Outstanding. It’s not about the status of the schools today, I’m more thinking about what each school will be like in 5 years time.

I would appreciate any comments or experiences of schools with different personality-types of heads, from other parents or teachers.

Don’t forget that heads come and go though!

I sent my DC to a fantastic school which had an appalling OFSTED report just before they went there. When I looked round the staff were amazing, the head was brilliant and my DC felt that they would be happy there. I ignored the OFSTED and sent my DCs anyway, they left with brilliant grades having been happy at the school and having had lots of extra-curricular opportunities and went on to top universities doing the heavily over-subscribed course of their choice.

They are now outstanding and have been for the last two inspections.

You have not really been told the truth about Ofsted by the teacher. It is not subjective. They have a whole host of data before they go into a school. All the performance data and progress data of the children. This will have been down to the old Head if it was not as good as before.

Ofsted look at what the Head is prioritising for improvement. Does this Head know where the school should improve? Do they interrogate their data and make the correct decisions and focus on how to improve? A Head fresh from turning around school will absolutely know how to do this. Being bright and shiny with Ofsted inspetors on the day is a total load of hogwash! They know what they are looking at and they know what they want to see, and that is evidence of hoe thr school is improving. Evidence is not subjective. Good is still very good, however.

You should want to see evidence of good teaching. Open days do not really show you this. Try and see a working day. Good Heads get good teachers. They want to work for them. Some shiny heads do not get respect because they are not actually good Heads. A good Head will also challenge staff to improve and drive forward good practices that enhace the education and attainment of the pupils. Pupil cohorts vary and you must look at pupil progress to judge a school. Ofsted go over this with a fine tooth comb! Don't forget that Heads can be unpopular because they challenge their staff. They are also responsible for recommendations for performance pay. They must set targets for teachers and some do not like it much.

If you like shiny talks then go with the other school, but make sure they are not coasting or taking you in by presentation skills. Schools are way more complex than this. You sound like you are looking for a private school where the Head's role is to sell you an expensive education, Many state schools are not like this.

The parents I know there seem to still rate it really well

I would go on personal on-the-front-line recommendations every time.

By all means put the Outstanding school first if you genuinely wish to send your child there. But if you'd be disappointed not to get your closer school, don't.

For me, primary school is at least as much about fostering a love of learning, school being "fun" and friendly, inclusive and part of the local community. For my DC to make friends in walking distance and be stimulated with a creative curriculum. Of course the results tell a story, but you need to look at the whole. For secondary I would be much more critical with the academics, but for me primary is a different set of head/heart choices.

Results? Attainment or progress? Big difference.

I clearly didn’t know the right stuff to ask this morning and could have done with reading the later posts beforehand! Nevertheless I did get a level of comfort from the meeting for reasons earlier.

Bubbles I am not sure if it was attainment or progress 😬 she mentioned the areas of excellence (in the league tables published recently) as ‘greater depth’ and exceeding expectations, which I understood to mean they performed better in year 6 than was predicted when the same kids were in year 2. Going to do some more digging into the data now.

Thanks all.

Attainment is the final Sats result for the children (in simple terms). So 100 is an attainment mark in Sats. A child can make little progress because they are coasting and still get 100. With good teaching they could have reached 110 say. Other children will have had to make very good progress every year to get 100. The latter represents better teaching. If the Head says children have made better than expected progress by y6, then that’s a good sign. You can see how well the cohort has done on the government’s data website. Do remember cohorts vary and attainment is clearly influenced if there are lots of bright children with significant parental input. That’s inevitable, but look behind the headline attainment and see what progress is made. Glad you had a good meeting.

Thanks so much Bubbles. On the data website, the Outstanding School seems to have had a phenomenal year, it is scoring 5.x where the Good school is scoring 2.x in some metrics. But some other schools nearby are scoring negative numbers. So the good school’s numbers are still very good.

We are still wavering one way and another due to all the other factors. At least the deadline is coming up so there’s not much more time to deliberate!

If they are scoring +5 for progress in reading, writing and maths then they must be truly outstanding. Look back and see if this is the same over several years. The school where I am a governor is +2 and we are Good from Ofsted just a few months ago. Sometimes exceptional progress does depend on Home circumstances as well as outstanding teaching. I would really see where you fit in and where you get the best buzz. Good luck choosing!

A Headteacher can completely change a school very quickly. I have recently left a school where a new head came and literally changed things overnight. The school is now unrecognisable. The previous head wasn't gregarious or a 'salesman' but a good, solid, well respected teacher who had the interests of the children and school at heart. The new head is the complete opposite- to new parents he is very showy and confident. However the school is a very unhappy place. All that glitters is not gold!

agree with golden on the all that glitters is not gold thing. a good head is really important but i don't think its always easy to work out what good is from an open day. There seems to be a bit of a trend for thrusting young charismatic heads who come across brilliantly and are very ambitious for the school but that isn't the only or best way to lead. i feel that i got a bit blinded by a head of this sort at DS's primary, now looking for secondaries for him and trying to see past the spin...in your shoes OP i wouldn't be too concerned by the public speaking, talking over her staff perhaps more so.

Wrote a reply earlier and battery died, argh!

The head has gone up in my estimation as people have said she does know all the families and children very well. Yes I thought she butted in where she should have let her staff continue talking when answering questions. It was just once or twice. If staff are not leaving in droves then she can’t be as bad as I thought.

I am talking myself around to the Good school as my heart is saying that one (despite the head), my head is saying I should try for the Outstanding with the better results and ‘shiny’ head.

Bubbles I think last year was a one-off for the 5.x results. It is a one form entry school so I guess it’s more likely to have a fluke good year (or bad year) once in a while than larger schools. (Just talking myself out of it aren’t I?!)

On the public speaking front, I do think it’s so important to be a confident communicator. In my professional experience it matters more than anything else, sadly. So I would like good role models for my DC in that area. Want them to come out able to talk like privately educated kids (but for free 😊). We can look for that elsewhere though, I agree it’s not that important a quality for the head as I first thought.

Thanks again for the responses.

I completely agree with you about the confidence to engage others. Children don’t necessarily respond to a Head regarding confidence. It tends to be more about inner confidence and building on that by doing activities such a drama and music performance. I have an very confident barrister DD. Drama is key - she tells everyone! No hiding place on stage and you have to learn your lines! In fact her Inn of Court offered a public speaking seminar from RADA.

Private schools do loads of drama so replicate that. Confidence can be nurtured so find a way to do it. Even in YR my children had to memorise a line or two for the parents’ assembley and take part in little drama scenes. Recorder ensemble in Y1. A 4 night residential in Y2. It all builds confidence.