Bristol school head pledges to improve results
The new head of Fairfield High School in Bristol has pledged to improve results and help all students reach their potential.
Catriona Mangham, who started at the 950-student comprehensive in Allfoxton Road, Horfield, this month, said the school wanted 60 per cent of youngsters to get at least five good GCSEs including English and maths and 70 per cent to gain five or more good passes in any subject. This year's figures were 43 and 62 per cent.
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"That is our aim. The students here are capable of that," she said.
Ms Mangham, a drama teacher, intends to make good use of the school's specialism in visual and performing arts to help students achieve well. "I strongly believe the performing arts can really raise attainment of students. It is about confidence, communication, cooperation and creativity. If students can learn and develop those skills it will help them in their futures," she said.
She is also looking at a major review of the curriculum to ensure that Fairfield is giving all students, including those who are gifted and talented and those whose first language is not English, the best chances to succeed.
Establishing values will also be paramount, linking with neighbouring primary schools.
Ms Mangham, 40, is looking forward to the challenges and opportunities of her first solo headship. She has come to Bristol from Wootton Bassett School in Wiltshire, where she was head of the school while the head teacher was away working for the Department of Children, Schools and Families.
In six years, Ms Mangham oversaw a rise in standards from a coasting school to the highest-performing in the county.
The first 12 years of her career were spent in what she describes as "very challenging" schools in Essex. She has also worked for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and is a consultant for the organisation Head Teachers in Industry.
Her appointment marks a new chapter for Fairfield. Long-serving head Nicky McAllister left in 2008 after 18 years including 12 in charge, during which time the school moved from Montpelier to spectacular new buildings in Allfoxton Road and expanded its numbers.
The governors did not appoint a new head immediately, so interim head Lyn Chamberlain filled the gap for a year. Ms Mangham had no doubts about the school when she was offered the permanent post.
"I was really impressed with the enthusiasm and attitude of the staff, the fantastic buildings, and friendly students who really want to achieve," she said.
2 Comments
by classof7s, Bristol
Friday, September 11 2009, 5:57PM
“I think the new of the school head teacher has got her work cut out. I do not believe that she will be able to help children reach their potential. I say this not because the teachers are poor or their teaching methods are inadequate but because the type of pupils the school now attracts and the background of those pupils. Over the last twenty years the school has changed so much in terms of pupils with ethnic minorities i.e from Black and Asians being the ethnic minority to white children now being the minority. In my experience I found that white pupils in Fairfield (in the nineties) did better than the ethnic minorities and this was because the white parents (with their background and the area the came from i.e. Cotham, Bishopston and Montpelier) appeared to be more interested in their children¿s education than parents of the ethnic minorities.
However because of the geographics of the area that the school now finds itself in, I don¿t think it will matter what colour the child now is as the social balance will now have changed (i.e. more deprived areas). Having been a past student some twenty years ago I would like students to do well but this will not happen until parents are targeted and made aware of their responsibility in helping their child do his/her utmost to utilize the opportunities the school will provide (suggestion commend parents). The parents will also have to manage the behaviour of their children in a manner which will then allow a teacher to teach and a pupil to be taught. The pupils of Fairfield on balance are likely to have quite high behavioral problems due to a high number pupils attending from surrounding areas such as lockleaze, Easton, St Werburghs i.e historically socially deprived areas and with socially deprived areas you get behavourial problems.
My English teacher was Ms McCallister in the early nineties and did not think she was cut out to be a head teacher particularly for as long she had been. The academic results of the school shows how far has fallen since the late eighties to the early nineties. Lets hope for the pupils of Fairfield that Ms Mangham can identify the obvious issues that need to be tackled and addressed and only then their may be some green shoots of progression for the children to reach their potential.”
by Roy, Clifton
Wednesday, September 09 2009, 6:31PM
“So the new Head of Fairfield would like to "....help all students reach their potential."
We're used to hearing jibberish from our local politicians but surely an educated and serious teacher should not stoop to such meaningless platitudes.”