Leading Teaching, Learning and Pedagogy in a Nursery School and Family Centre

Leading teaching, learning and pedagogy in a nursery school and family centre Case study

August 2014 Contents

Introduction 3

Background 3

Leadership learning 5

The wider learning community 7

Creating a learning community 10

The leader as a learner 12

Parents as learners 13

Children as learners 16

Staff as learners 18

National and regional profile in leading the learning 23

Conclusion 24

2 Introduction

This case study focuses on the leadership of teaching, learning and pedagogy in an ‘outstanding’ nursery school and family centre. The centre is located in a city in the north of England that is a predominantly white, working-class area of considerable and chronic deprivation.

The case study is drawn from an analysis of the setting’s substantive policy documents, its website, its publications in professional journals and other documents. In addition, it is supplemented by recorded notes of a discussion group, which include the setting’s head of centre, the deputy head, the children’s centre co- ordinator, the vice-chair of the governing body, and their former local authority early years adviser, who is an NCTL representative. Background

The centre’s history is not an untypical story of a response to multiple policy initiatives, relocations, amalgamations and rapid ideological, political and economic changes whilst always trying to create what the head calls “a unified community with a sense of common purpose”.

The nursery school had existed since 1932 when it began integrating, in 1999, with a nearby social services’ day nursery, which itself was more than a hundred years old. Eventually both were amalgamated into a purpose-built DfES Early Excellence Centre (EEC) in 2001. This EEC was expanded when the Sure Start programme was incorporated, which involved further building redevelopment focused primarily on health and community initiatives. Children’s centre status for the whole site was obtained in 2003, whilst the nursery school still retained its DfES designation. By the end of 2004, the nursery school governing body had taken up responsibility for the delegated budget. Some staff contracts, such as those formerly with social services were still centrally managed, but were now line-managed by the head of centre.

The centre piloted an integrated 0–19 Ofsted inspection in May 2004, which recommended that the whole site should have one headteacher and one management board. In December 2004, the local Sure Start management board dissolved and the governing body/management board of the nursery school was reconstituted. Thus, by January 2005, the nursery school and children’s centre had one multiple-representative management board for the whole site. The Early Excellence and original Sure Start local programme were assimilated and restructured into a full children’s centre, and the headteacher of the nursery school became the head of centre in September 2005 with links to the local authority for accountability. In 2010, the governing body renamed the site as a nursery school

3 and family centre. Currently, the centre is conscious of the competitive pressure of secondary and primary academies moving into the early years market, but remains keen to stay within the local authority structure.

The nursery school currently caters for 154 full-time equivalent children from 2 to 5 years, with limited 0 to 2-year-old paid and funded places available. The centre is open for 48 weeks of the year and provides extended day and full-year provision.

The nursery school gained ‘outstanding’ judgements from Ofsted in May 2004, May 2008, May 2011 and May 2014, while the children’s centre received ‘outstanding’ in all areas in January 2011.

4 Leadership learning

The headteacher has been in post at the Nursery School and Family Centre for fifteen years, she has experienced many changes and has often felt the need for support and professional development. She points out that leaders need such support to sustain their own learning and that of others:

“Creating the services wanted by families is complex and physically and mentally draining – but worth the time and energy. The role is demanding, involves great challenge and requires leaders to have a vast amount of stamina. In support of such demands, leaders need time for themselves for professional development, for mentoring and for networking. Without these support mechanisms, leadership in children’s centres can become isolated and destructive.”

Her approach has always been child centred, though she also sees her role as being a political agent of change and as an altruistic social entrepreneur, conscious of where she can astutely make use of external funds and resources for her school and centre in order to develop it as a “community anchor”. She suggested that:

“…[you] should not let the minutiae of the day job overshadow your vision, and you must also be aware of the strategic and operational changes that have recently happened. You need to know about finances – if you’re not entrepreneurial these days, the vision can crumble. Knowledge about working with staff, knowledge about working with children and pedagogy, and knowledge about working with finances are the three rooted aspects you need to look at and go down deeper into each; they are all intertwined, but they are also very difficult and complex. Your role is to nurture the future generation, to guide and to point out the pitfalls. It’s a very lonely job and that can be the most surprising thing. You have a common thread and share a vision but you are on your own an awful lot and a new leader should know that. I look for complementing leadership styles so that if one of the team goes, the balance can be maintained.”

The head also spoke of the importance of maintaining enchantment and guarding against scepticism, and of the dangers of losing the initial spark and sense of adventure of new challenges over time. It is important to have peer buddies with

5 whom to share and offload, to have quality off-stage time, to keep being curious about and open to new ideas, to keep the vision and to stay close to the community and be constantly reminded about the value and importance of the work. Part of the governing body’s support for the headteacher’s learning development is to ensure that she is given leadership and management time off-site as an acknowledgement of the pressures and loneliness of her role.

6 The wider learning community

The setting is clearly very aware of the importance of creating a learning community beyond the centre that develops its own voice and power, as well as a collective social capital, giving it the confidence to articulate its needs. As a leader, the headteacher’s own learning and understanding about the nature of this empowering community learning and how it is given a forum has become central to the school and centre’s philosophy. Crucially, it is a key element in raising the aspirations and expectations of the community for themselves and especially for their children. In an area of great economic deprivation, unhelpful labelling, reduced aspirations and stereotyping need to be challenged – not just by outsiders but also, of course, by staff, parents or, indeed, in the community’s expressed view of itself.

This is not a view that allows a helpless despondency in the face of huge social issues – which include poverty, housing, drugs, gang warfare, unemployment and so forth – and it rejects an attitude that says, “What difference can we possibly make as a centre when faced by these major issues beyond our control?” The head recognises those realities, but also adopts a strong vision that in this community change can happen by the efforts of the community itself; education and learning, in their broadest sense, are seen as key agents of empowerment and social mobility. Getting that alternative, positive perspective across creates an important context for addressing attitudes to learning and raising expectations, and it is a key strategy for the headteacher and her team. It is achieved by modelling their own learning, and creating opportunities and forums for community debate and action but, most importantly, by adopting an attitude that is not helpless but positive.

Learning about and learning with the wider community can involve different professional organisations, making useful supportive and informative links and partnerships with others, including childminders and other agencies, particularly around transitions. When considering how to involve other partners in pedagogy, responses highlighted the importance of personality, communication and engagement with like-minded colleagues, but also acknowledging differences in perceptions and philosophy, and in the different models used. Underpinning everything must be the principle that the child and the family are at the heart of this in any decision about what needs to be provided.

Regular team meetings are held with other professionals – such as speech and language therapists – to establish their targets and how best they can be supported.

7 Regular training sessions for staff help develop a shared understanding and professional dialogue. Co-location facilitates collaboration, but it is more important to fully engage in dialogue across the various professions for the benefit of the child. Acknowledging and respecting professional heritage is crucial in disseminating a climate of pedagogy.

When asked about the difficulties in integrating with different professional heritages, the headteacher commented that the Every Child Matters agenda did a great deal to open the doors for different educational and social care and health agencies to talk together. However, “health is still the hardest one to crack”, largely because of the problems connected with sharing data and children’s records. The head felt that relationships with family support and social workers had improved, and that there was now more integration with education both in the nursery school and centre and across the city. The greatest change in this was the amalgamation of care and educational provision within the EEC, and then the children’s centre agenda when professionals came under one roof. The centre was also part of the National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership (NPQICL) delivery until recently, the major part of which is focused on collaborative working.

Many challenges still remain however. One comment from a school governor was that, at its worst, there had always been a danger in the degree of insularity or preciousness in early years and this sometimes led to reluctance to engage in the wider educational debate. There is little collaboration directly with other local early years providers in the private, voluntary or independent sector, and less involvement now with child minders than before, although CPD courses are open to all in the centre.

There had to be a great deal of discussion and consultation – bottom-up rather than top-down – in the early days to get people on board and to promote what the school was trying to achieve. A lot of effort was made to get out into communities and to ask what was required, but it was recognised that this was always going to be a long process, requiring a lot of investment.

“Statistics for health, particularly, were quite shocking in this area and poverty cannot be eradicated overnight. This will need investment for 40, 50, 60 years, and we have been working on this for 15 years so we’re not going to make that difference so soon… the problem was that not enough had been

8 invested in the north of the city and it needs a great deal of investment to make a difference.”

Headteacher

Describing the leadership qualities needed to effect change in these sorts of circumstances, the headteacher commented:

“You have to be very determined, to have a clear vision, know where you want to go and continue to go for it, and it’s never very straightforward to do that.”

Amalgamation presented many problems and challenges, particularly since there had been a lack of strong leadership previously and many staff had not been called to account. The first nine months of leadership were extremely challenging as expectations were made clear and unpopular decisions were made. The nursery schools in the city were all very diverse and served different communities, so it was difficult to see one universal solution for everyone. Since the headteacher came from outside the area – whereas most of the other heads had grown up within the city – there was, to some extent, a difference in experience and expectations; she felt that that some of the other heads had been far too “understanding” in their views about working class communities in Liverpool. She felt this had led them to be less demanding of their families and, generally, to have lower expectations.

Another barrier was the prevalence of low aspirations in the community. The perception from the early years lead officer at the time was that few people saw education as a route out of poverty. She commented:

“Typical aspirations expressed by dads with whom we were working were to win the lottery, have a son playing for premier football, make loads of money, get recognition in the community, but certainly not to get an education. There tended to be a complacent view about the community and what could be expected, and a general attitude of provision being ‘good enough for the community’ in the local area when it clearly was not… a general acceptance that this was just how things were in this area. From where we have come to from there to what we are doing today astounds me and I am in awe of the impact this setting has made on the community.”

9 Creating a learning community

At the school and centre, all children and all adults – whether parents, carers or co- professionals – are viewed as learners. Even after 15 years in post, the head, as a leader, clearly demonstrates curiosity, openness and an eagerness to learn. She has a PhD, writes articles, speaks at and attends conferences and, most importantly, is in constant dialogue with her extended team about their reflections and improvements; and she creates leader forums and opportunities to make this happen. A climate of open but critical interest in new ideas permeates; ideas and initiatives are assessed for their relevance and their usefulness, and then often reshaped and contextualised to fit the centre’s particular needs. The senior leadership team encourages all staff and governors to see continuous reflection and learning as a key part of their role, and meaningful objectives are set during staff appraisals to that end.

The governing body is seen as integral to this process and learns informally by being included in all activities at the centre, particularly as part of the formal approval of policies. As the head explained:

“[targeted learning opportunities for governors] tend to be offered in areas of specific interest or responsibility. For example... [the governor taking part in the focus group] ....has accessed training during her four years in office on subjects as diverse as Ofsted, finance, health and safety, and appraisal, but has chosen not to opt for curriculum-based courses. The local authority provides some training for governors and other external providers also offer CPD opportunities.”

The governor commented:

“I feel that the role of chair of governors had changed greatly over the years and that there are now so many responsibilities that to participate fully as a governor is a huge commitment and not always feasible for someone in full- time employment. The make-up of the governing body has changed because the term of office for governors of two to four years means that there are big turnovers. There is a local councillor on our board, who is also the lead for education across the city, and of course, we have community representatives too.”

The focus group felt that they were inevitably drawn into the fight against shrinking services.. There have also been challenges made to the local authority policies. Generally, the head implied that:

10 “You don’t just want to be done to; you want to be part of the process.”

The headteacher explained some of the history of relations with the local authority from her perspective:

“The role of the local authority during the process of change and development in early years was perceived by the centre leader as limited in the early days (2001–2006) in that much of the initiatives emanated directly from the then Department of Education, working with civil servants and other officers. We found support by drawing on expertise nationally, with help and guidance from key figures, such as Margy Whalley and Cath Arnold from Pen Green. It was also vital to look around nationally at other comparative structures, leadership models, pay and conditions, and contracts. There was, initially, a real division between nursery nurses and teachers; and the designation of titles, which was a symptom of that [division], was an important issue early on from 2000 when the nursery and day centre came together, before becoming an Early Excellence Centre.”

“There has always been a strong school improvement partnership, but the role of the local authority has tended to be sporadic with different directors and different visions. Moving from a narrower focus on education to directing a family and children’s centre made the brief wider and, with the end of the Early Excellence programme in 2006, the designation of the setting as a children’s centre led to full integration.”

“Currently, the local authority is developing the local learning partnership to support and challenge schools, and encompasses the school improvement programme. There is a changing role for the local authority which is uncertain, but in these early days, we feel that the signs were more positive than negative.”

Whatever changes in organisation lie ahead, the school and centre fully understands that the wider community needs to be encouraged to focus on learning and education, as well as universal early intervention, and not merely see early years as a childcare solution to allow parents and carers into the job market.

11 The leader as a learner

The emphasis on learning and pedagogy came initially from the head, who is described by a governor as “always a learner herself”. The head regards this as a key factor in the success of the whole site.

“Unless you are a learner yourself, you cannot pass that on to other staff. The leader needs to demonstrate clear commitment to learning.”

The main explanation offered for the success of the centre is that all practitioners share one main objective: to help each child to get a better start in life. Everyone at the setting, whatever their background, can commit to this because they can share the same goal, as highlighted by the head:

“The child is at the heart of everything we do, any decision that’s made, anything that any of us are involved in, is about the child and enabling the child to get a better priority start.”

When asked about the leader’s personal role in establishing the climate of learning, the head and deputy both talked about the importance of having a clear vision, but also a determination to achieve it. Their predominant style is democratic and participatory, but it also requires a toolkit of different leadership styles for different situations and environments. Leadership styles can change and adapt over time. For example, in the beginning, the head described her initial position as somewhat naive, based on the assumption that everyone in the setting was striving towards the same goal and making that goal explicit, but she then found herself moving reluctantly towards a HR role, and away from the focus on pedagogy and andragogy she wanted. She realised as her staff team grew from 16 to 40 people that she could not micromanage everything and that there were professionals on her team with more specialised knowledge in their field than she had.

The turning point was the realisation by the head and deputy that they could no longer lead alone and that a distributed leadership model had to be implemented. Leadership structures need to change to reflect changes occurring overtime. Currently, the two-year-old offer and the location of leadership of provision for children under three means some leadership change may be considered. Both leaders felt it was important to acknowledge the contribution that the strength, skills and professional heritage of all practitioners make because even though they might not directly line-manage all of them, they have to work closely together.

The head’s biggest concerns now are about expanding financial knowledge. For example, the setting is presently working with the two-year-old pilot. Sustainability as a nursery school has been made more complex because of single formula funding and requires the development of new entrepreneurial skills.

12 Parents as learners

The leadership team encourages parents to be learners and to attend courses at the children’s centre. Some of the governors, for example, initially started off as parents who had been encouraged in this way. Many families in the area have very low levels of confidence as highlighted by the head:

“Just coming through the door can be quite difficult. Many need a lot of encouragement to participate in groups. Sometimes, by them just coming to the café we can get them engaged in things like card craft. If we can get them into making cards for a while, perhaps we can then start to involve them in something else.”

The leadership team set up a community parents group which has been running for a number of years and has done much to help to build confidence amongst parents. Sometimes this has provided openings for jobs at the centre. For example, some parents started their involvement as supervisory assistants; some begin as volunteers at the school, which helps develop their understanding of what the children are learning and, in turn, makes them more engaged and more interested in early years education and philosophy. From there, the parents can be offered academic routes, for example, to obtain level 2 or level 3 qualifications and beyond.

The centre leadership has developed a wellbeing project that focuses on supporting parents and carers to become more involved in the learning of their two-year-olds. One initiative is to show video clips in order to engage parents in their children’s learning, using a theoretical background to understand the importance of play at a deep level rather than just superficially. The centre helps parents to understand what children learn, how they learn and what play actually means. A small project was set up initially, with interested parents looking at video footage showing vignettes of children at nursery and at home. Now it is normal practice for video cameras to be sent home and practitioners to look at the resulting footage with parents on a one-to- one basis. Different educational and developmental theories – including schema, wellbeing, involvement, attachment and holding – are then explored in relation to what is observed on film.

“It comes down to practitioners having a strong understanding of those theories and a shared understanding with parents, and one way to

13 demonstrate is to show what children doing on a daily basis… What are they doing? Why are they doing it? What is the theory behind it?”

Headteacher

This leadership initiative has helped parents to develop a better understanding of how they can help their children by improving the home learning environment. They are provided with easy-to-follow portfolios designed by practitioners at the setting. Gradually, parents learn to pick out theories and are then shown how to look for specific things. Once parents have access to the language they need, they can have discussions with practitioners based on a shared understanding. Through this scheme, parents have grown in confidence and are much more tuned into children’s understanding. Often, as a result, they want to know more, volunteer more, and become learners again themselves, in an academic sense.

Some parents have been specifically targeted for involvement in the scheme. One parent, who was very frustrated by their child’s behaviour of constantly throwing objects, now has an understanding of the schema involved in tackling this behaviour. The parent and practitioner together began to look at his patterns of play and to explore his trajectory schema in a more positive way. They have set up football sessions, use water pipes and block play. As a result, the parent began to rethink the home environment and the resources used at home, which has resulted in a very positive outcome. The insights gained by leaders from this and other examples are shared not only with the staff at the centre, but also with practitioners across a much wider area.

The group was asked about politicising parents, making them advocates for their community and for securing additional resources for young children’s learning. The leadership felt that the setting does not always involve parents in this sort of activity, unlike one of the local nursery schools that always encourages vociferous parental involvement. However, there were examples of parents becoming politically active, such as during the Sure Start consultations where there was a possibility of two areas joining together with one overall co-ordinator, with no real parity of work. The head’s view is that:

“There is an aspect of the political that you use when you need to…….You have to be able to articulate clearly and unemotionally what you are trying to do, what it is you are trying to achieve and how best you think you can

14 achieve that… You become an advocate and you are fighting for children, but not in a way that people can dismiss easily.”

The leaders and staff at the nursery school and centre suggested they were very aware of the issues relating to the perceived academic underachievement of white working class boys because of the centre’s location in a predominantly white sector of the city – a situation that has only begun to change over the last 18 to 20 months with the arrival of growing numbers of Eastern European, Somalian, Russian and Chinese families, many of whom have not been made welcome in the area.

The perceived role of the male in this area has presented diverse challenges, often related to a drug culture, the use of firearms and domestic abuse. It has been necessary to stagger the dropping off and collection times for a number of families because of tensions between them. A relatively high proportion of fathers are in prison and there is a high percentage of single mothers, although it is difficult to determine actual numbers because of a reluctance to identify themselves as such.

The centre’s leadership has tried to overcome some of these difficulties by including male employees (such as site managers, gardeners and other staff), by introducing dads’ clubs (male carers and grandfathers), by encouraging fathers to come into lessons and by raising fathers’ aspirations through engagement with the local academy and regional partnership. The deputy head has reported a clear shift in behaviour over the last two academic years, with fathers being more engaged and showing more enthusiasm for self-improvement. More fathers have also become involved in children’s centre courses such as toilet training. For many, education is now seen as a real opportunity and the setting has been very proactive in trying to further develop this involvement.

“Simple ideas like the text on flyers can have an impact and many dads respond better to face-to-face contact.”

Deputy Head teacher

15 Children as learners

The leadership approach to developing children as learners is set out in the centre’s ‘Curriculum Learning and Teaching Policy’, from which the following 3 quotations have been extracted. It is agreed with the governing body, parents and staff, and is regularly updated and available online. Pedagogy is defined by the leadership as a broad, dynamic process requiring staff to adopt certain characteristics and attitudes. These include:

“…increasing and updating knowledge of the curriculum, becoming more conscious and informed of the way teaching and learning can be improved, becoming more informed on research and development, getting to know more about types of assessment.”

Children’s learning is set in the context of adult understanding about how adult interventions can be effective and efficient. The centre is focused on:

“…supporting the children and families of the children’s centre reach area in narrowing the gap between ability and achievement, between what is and what could be. It is integral to achieving our vision that children have the very best learning and teaching experiences and opportunities.”

The centre’s team aims to provide a context in which…

“…children receive sensitive support from principled, reflective early childhood educators who are a partner and nurturer, and guide children.”

The seven areas of learning and development (in line with the revised guidance) is the leadership’s key document for the children’s learning development and care. All staff have been consulted on the centre’s policy, which is available online and on staff members’ USB sticks. An induction process for new staff makes sure newcomers understand the process too.

“There is a comprehensive induction programme with different members of the staff team responsible for different aspects. For example, the site manager and business manager will lead part of the induction and other team members will cover areas such as context, reach area, targets, work on community and engagement, and the nursery school. The aim is to give people the bigger picture of what the centre is about. It is seen as an intrinsic part of the work of centre leadership to work with the staff team to explore their roles and this is very embedded as part of induction.”

Headteacher

16 It is the specific responsibility of the head of the centre, the deputy and the children’s centre co-ordinator to annually review the policy to ensure it is updated and grounded in the centre’s practice. This document is central to the centre’s self- evaluation process.

Assessing, tracking and recording pupil learning, and implementing intervention strategies to improve pupil learning, is seen by the leadership as crucial. Data collection is a complex process that needs to be balanced by the pedagogue’s needs for assessment to develop learning.

There has been more tracking from Early Years Foundation Stage to early years outcomes. It has been considered difficult to get Ofsted to understand the available data and there were requests for it to be presented in a way that was not philosophically sound for the centre. As a result, more streamlining has been introduced and there has been a greater focus on how to track children’s progress.

Increasingly the nursery school and children’s centre has been questioned on how attainment is measured. The deputy head explained that most children enter the nursery school significantly below the expected age of attainment but leave in line with, or above age-related expectations. He felt that the two year old progress check was an inconsistent measuring tool as it could be completed at any time within a 12 month period. For this reason, the centre has developed and extended its data and tracking systems to accommodate two year old children. Although still in its infancy, it was felt that it was working well and can be more easily moderated.

Much of the school and centre’s work is based on developing children’s confidence and resilience as learners. The Effective Early Learning (EEL) and Baby Effective Early Learning (BEEL) programmes have been instrumental in helping the centre’s leaders work with staff to explore their roles, and they are now embedded as part of the induction process. Peer-to-peer observations play an important part across the setting and all staff are involved, including volunteers and trainees.

The school and centre works with several higher education institutions to develop models and materials for good practice as well as to provide data for research projects. Most of this interaction has proved useful but, whilst open to new ideas, the centre critiques and contextualises rather than just absorbing new ideas.

17 Staff as learners

The school and family centre’s vision as stated in its ‘Professional Development Policy’ makes a core commitment to:

“…ongoing professional development of all staff… to develop a team who are assertive, self-critical and supportively critical of others. We believe in the importance of all staff learning to work co-operatively, respect strengths and celebrate each other’s successes and failures.”

This is an objective that is not just given lip-service, but is taken very seriously indeed.

“Professional development is ingrained within the culture of the centre. Staff know and expect that they will get a good training programme when they come here.”

Deputy Headteacher

At a time when training costs need to be manageable, one rigorous and systematic example of professional development is the use of internal video. Interactions between practitioners and children, as well as others, are captured digitally by a neutral observer and are returned to the targeted member of staff. He or she then considers and reflects on the clip individually and privately, and can then choose to share it with whoever can provide useful feedback. Sometimes, observation schedules, such as those on adult engagement in the EEL or BEEL programmes, may be used to give specific focus to the clip’s analysis.

This personalised development is also tied into awareness of the local community and advocacy.

“We believe that all adults need to be rigorous thinkers, focused and analytical, and yet aware of the rhythms of the organisation and their private lives. We aim for the work of all staff to be rooted in the local community, but for the staff to reach out, make their views known and challenge local and central government over important issues.”

“This policy is about how we support all staff as a team and as individuals, in improving their professional development, and for the teaching team and early childhood educators, extending their knowledge of pedagogy and wider early years practice. This policy is about how staff can understand the richness of the early childhood curriculum, beyond targets, standards and performance,

18 and be supported in their reading and keeping up to date with theory and practice for their day-to-day role.”

Extract from the setting’s Professional Development Policy, agreed by the Governing Body of the nursery school and family centre on 14/01/2014, and previously reviewed by the EYFS committee

A range of continuing professional development strategies are used. These include in-service days, observation days within the centre, attendance at conferences or courses, listening to parents, accessing the head’s monitoring, modelling the leadership and development role, performance management and appraisals, liaison and observation with other staff members, team meetings and discussions, visits to other settings, as well as access to the centre’s resource-rich library and the regional teaching school’s CPD courses. Written agreed criteria on access and funding for courses and conferences are set out clearly and approved by the senior management team. All staff must give written feedback with a week of attending a course or conference. A maximum fee of £200 per day can be waived at the head’s discretion only.

Staff learning is focused on four key areas:

 pedagogy

 supporting families

 wider professional effectiveness

 professional characteristics

Each of these key areas are fully explained in the centre’s policy statements, which are all are available online, dated and regularly reviewed. Monitoring, development and improvement of these characteristics and attitudes is provided through a process of regular performance management and appraisal for all staff.

The individual job description is a point of reference for discussing achievement and identifying development needs. Much of it is self-led through performance management and initiatives such as the wellbeing project have emerged from individual staff interests and targets. The head frequently undertakes speaking engagements to help raise funding for staff development. All members of staff are expected to be aware of and to explore leading research. Academic rigour is seen by the head as a key component of life at the centre and she gets involved in the learning of her whole team.

19 “I enjoy good academic conversations with other heads and constantly strive to move myself forward and encourage the whole team to do the same.”

The senior leadership team is very selective about courses and professional opportunities and will always look at initiatives in other countries. There are various networks – such as NPQICL learning communities, developing leaders, nursery schools and nursery heads networks – in which staff are involved, and internal clusters within the centre then reach out and test ideas with other schools and centres.

The headteacher encourages ideas and suggestions from individual members of staff addressing their own learning needs; “The principle is that if we are looking for children to be autonomous learners, staff must have these traits too.”

There are many examples of praxeology (conceptualising about practice) being used by staff at the setting and individual practitioners undertake their own professional development, making links between their own everyday practice and its theoretical underpinning.

One initiative over the last 18 months has been an exploration of how to foster inclusive and effective learning environments that develop children’s conversations. This initiative was introduced after analysing data that indicated that language development at the centre was very good, so a clear research objective was to explore ways of extending this provision. Ofsted have commented that many settings generate data but fewer spend time on systematically analysing it.

In having a clear vision of what they wanted to achieve, they were able to select a strong partner, a local higher education institution. This was mutually beneficial according to the head: “We brought practice; they brought rigour and academic oversights”, which provoked challenging and frank discussions. The outcome was that the staff involved have been pushed to their limits, but it has opened up wide areas of debate and analysis, and provided opportunities to produce their own framework.

“Eventually there will be a product, but a great deal of time is spent on the process.”

Headteacher

20 The nursery school and family centre is a designated teaching school and the importance of democratic practice and sharing has been fully embraced in its culture, which has had to be balanced with the need for strong leadership and a shared philosophy and vision. The head expressed clearly that there needs to be a shared value and trust base with other leaders and a joining up of thinking.

“It shouldn’t ever be a one-man band and a one-man setting and empire building, but about sharing.”

Within the school and centre, special idiosyncratic phrases are often developed which act as short cuts to capture an underpinning theory. The term ‘respectful holding’ was used to describe the centre’s philosophy of trying to get the whole team aboard the ‘Bus to Brighton’, which is a phrase commonly used at the centre to ensure everyone embraces the objectives of a long mutual learning journey. It is understood that there needs to be clear thinking and clear expectations across the organisation but, at the same time, those who struggle to come aboard must be ‘held’ so that they do not feel diminished or undermined. This is perceived as an important skill for a leader to have, and the head at this setting has demonstrated it frequently where there has been a mismatch between an individual member of staff and the expectations of the school.

In the past, where there have been practitioners who have not easily fitted in with the ethos of the organisation, the setting has encouraged secondments. Usually, the practitioners have moved on from these successfully. Sometimes, it has been necessary to make unpopular decisions and to demonstrate different leadership styles: democratic and participatory where possible, but not always. According to the head:

“You have to have the constitution and the strength of character to show your mettle; something I would not have imagined myself doing when I set out. I knew I was in it for the long haul. I didn’t want to be a leader that moves on in two or three years and does it all somewhere else. Continuity is important to give something a chance to grow. I didn’t know it was going to grow as large as this, but nursery education and young children’s learning and [the] engagement of parents, families and practitioners was at the core of what I

21 wanted to achieve. I didn’t want to be a specialised ‘secret garden’, but the quality must not be lost…….Quality needs to be kept, rather than quantity.”

22 National and regional profile in leading the learning

The nursery school and centre is designated as a lead school, part of a regional professional development partnership, and it has also been an NPQICL provider. It has substantive facilities to deliver professional development. It feels it is important to reinforce an early years focus and specialism at regional level, challenging the predominance of the primary and secondary sector. The integrated characteristics of children’s centres require a particular understanding which is different to the schools’ agenda. The head felt that the growing competition for resources and the general push towards the marketisation of the sector could have an impact on collaborative working and on the integration of services, which are important opportunities for professional learning. The centre has links to three higher education institutions and regularly involves itself in joint research activities. As a nursery school, it sees that it can be model of good practice and exemplify early years learning for other settings, with early years education being more important than care.

23 Conclusion

“This is a setting which is clearly focused on supporting children and families in narrowing the gap between ability and achievement, between what is and what could be. It is central to achieving our vision that children have the very best learning and teaching experiences and opportunities.”

Headteacher

Under inspirational leadership, the nursery school and centre’s team provides a context in which sensitive support from principled, reflective early educators ensures a positive and thriving learning community.

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