Our warmest congratulations to Debbie Robins who is SELT's first apprentice!
I have almost eight years experience of headship gained across two schools. Currently I am Headteacher at Wray Common, a large primary school in Reigate, Surrey. My interest and that of my team in the practical application of research has been a key feature in both the growth of the school's innovative curriculum and our well established reputation for providing excellent leadership development opportunities for all groups of staff.
My interest in contributing to the development of school leaders of the future has seen my varied involvement with both the National College and the TDA. I am currently acting as an LA mentor to newly appointed headteachers and am co-facilitating Surrey's Future Leaders Programme. Four years ago I shared in the establishment of an innovative self evaluation network in which seven schools committed to driving improvement through peer review. Opportunities offered to staff to grow as leaders both within and beyond their schools through the work of the network became my focus of our NCSL Research Associate report in 2008. Other interests include my serving as Vice Chair of our twenty one school local extended schools confederation, involving colleagues in primary, secondary and special sectors along with other community representatives.
I am absolutely delighted to have been selected for the apprenticeship opportunity. The main focus of the interview activity; the use of research on building trust within schools and across the community reflects one of my major areas of research enquiry. I am keen to explore how we best support and grow school leaders of the future who will have an increasingly fluid, less well defined system wide role as they are called on to act as leaders of learning within local communities rather than exclusively of individual institutions. This closely links with another area of interest; the moral and spiritual basis of leadership, both within schools and as agents of change across communities.
It is an enormous privilege to work with John and I know that I will learn much about current trends and policy and grow both professionally and personally. I very much hope to use the opportunity to make a real contribution to research which will benefit colleagues as together we seek to both understand and to prepare for the demanding but rewarding role of school leadership in a fast changing and complex future.
