JAGS head leaving.. what’s the impact?

[Stircrazyschoolmum]

I attended an open morning at JAGS this morning and despite previous misgivings quite liked it. However, we found out informally that the head will be leaving to take on a role at St Paul’s in Sept 2020 which is a shame as I believe she has done a lot to improve pastoral care at the school.

I was wondering how much weighting I should give to this in my schools applications - does it make a big difference to the culture and ethos of the school? Does it create upheaval and politics or bring fresh thinking and new ideas?

Interested in any thoughts / experiences! (Plus any of JAGS in general would be helpful as it seems to suffer from more ‘hothouse’ connotations than the GDST group.)

Thank you!

Interesting. I was at the open morning today as well and was very favourably impressed - and quite of a lot of concerns I had about JAGs were addressed by the current head.

I agree stella I liked it far more than I was expecting! My fear (hopefully unfounded) is all the new changes will leave with the head and it will revert to a ‘hothouse’.

I was a bit frustrated to learn about the head leaving via another parent rather than in her opening speech.. although I appreciate it may’ve detracted from the discussion. I thought the girls on the panel seemed very down to earth?

We quite liked JAGs when we looked round a couple of years ago -the Head seemed down to earth and addressed the key worries about a high achieving girls school.

But she'll only have been there for 4/5 years when she goes which is a very short stay. I wonder how much permanent impact she can have on the school in that time - and there's no indication who the next Head will be.

So the risk is you buy into one culture and you get something quite different.

I have experienced change of a Head at my DDs senior girls school and it made a huge difference - after the first year. The existing DH retired after the first year and she was the glue holding the school together. No one saw the new Head for a year. She presumably sat in her office plotting what to do when the DH retired. Then she acted.

Decent people openly criticised her. Teachers left. It was difficult to see how her changes improved anything. The new DH with husband in tow as Chaplain was also a disaster. Parents would have been overjoyed if this had only been for 5 years. She stayed for 10. Long enough to ensure droves left the school.

If you have a decent Head, you need to keep them. You might get a great new Head on the way up. In our case we got one that was over promoted who clearly interviewed well but she lost the confidence of so many parents. Hopefully the new Head at this school will continue the ethos that has been established and you value. Our new Head changed it and the school with it.

Thank you. These opinions are really valuable. I’ve watched a change of leadership from the sidelines with our local co-Ed Emanuel. It’s been a mixed bag with some parents applauding changes made and others cursing them.

My frustration with JAGS (although I can’t fault the Heads ambition) is it appears she was making a real difference pastorally and it’s in this area the school has struggled in recent years. ( Academically and facilities wise it’s pretty faultless.) I cant work out why they haven’t fought to keep her as 4-5 years seems a very short tenure?

I'm quite concerned as well - as you say, she seems to have sorted out the main concern I had with the school. I am assuming as she's going to St Paul's there can't be any issues with her performance - so it makes me wonder if there are some issues in the background at the school?

This is pure conjecture by the way. But I am unsure why it wasn't addressed at the open morning directly - although, as you say, the panel was very much about the girls and it wasn't entirely appropriate.

A quick update to the thread. I just saw on JAGs website that the current head of Woldingham Alex Hutchinson (an ex JAGS teacher) is taking on the role. Does anyone have any experience of her? Her background is sciences which will appeal to my daughter!

I cannot comment on this appointment, but 4-5 years is not a short time for a Head who wants to move up. It is fairly normal if they are ambitious.

Can I say that the background of a Head doesn't make much difference to the ethos of the school for every day pupils. Show me a school that is not falling over itself to promote STEM subjects? A head has to have to appeal to eveyone and not just scientists. The arts are important too. As soon as parents think one area of the currculum is favoured over another, there are issues!

Interestingly, prospective parents of Woldingham were only told the head was moving to JAGS after results were posted... She seems like a great head. I liked her talk a lot at the Woldingham open day. Quite a change to go from
Woldingham to JAGS I would have thought!

It is certainly a strange lifestyle choice, although JAGS is a fantastic school so is a good career move. I understand that she was interested in the opportunity to move to a day school - there is always something on of an evening/weekend at Woldingham as it is Boarding, but she is swapping an absolutely stunning environment for somewhere very different. She is good, very ambitious, and will push a STEM agenda (some with a humanities/arts preference may find this frustrating as it is less evidently valued).

Alex Hutchinson is great! JAGS is in good hands with her.

The JAGS girls (after considerable research!) seem generally positive - Alex Hutchinson taught at JAGS earlier in her career, so she understands what the school is about, in particular the delicate balance of inspiring extremely academic girls to fulfil their potential, while promoting their mental health.

There is a feeling that her sports experience is a plus - this is one thing where JAGS currently lags behind G&L, PHS and WHS.

I am assuming as she's going to St Paul's there can't be any issues with her performance - so it makes me wonder if there are some issues in the background at the school?

I am coming into this late and from the perspective of a parent of a boy going through 7+... the JAGS head teacher is going to be the first female High Master at St. Paul's in its 500 year history. What a thing to achieve as female teacher/head teacher - it really does not automatically mean that there is something wrong at JAGS. I hope it will be of enormous benefit to the boys at St. Paul's to see a female leader.

and also a positive for the girls at JAGS to see what she is going on to do

I agree worklife it seems like a win win and I’ve heard only good things about Alex Hutchinson. I think my initial reaction was partly due to finding out ‘by accident’ on the tour rather than it being mentioned during the heads speech.. it wasn’t very transparent. Then again, at that point I’m not sure anyone knew who was taking over so I guess they were trying to avoid anxiety.

To be fair, the Alleyns Head (Gary Savage) didn’t mention he was leaving either! I’ve not heard who is replacing him but as PP mentioned I guess it’s to be expected that high performing ambitious heads move around.