Motcombe Comunity Infant School – A Golden School and a Golden Model for Parents’ Information
Motcombe Community Infant School (now part of Motcombe CE VA Primary School) is a very golden school – that Jenny worked with over a good number of years. The school created a Golden Model leaflet for parents – please see attachment below.
Here is an account from Fizz Starkey, Ex-headteacher about the journey taken by this school.
Fizz Starkey, headteacher and Ruth Holyoak, deputy headteacher, attended a one day training course run by Jenny Mosley in 1995. This resulted in training for the whole school staff and the Governing Body in 1996. From then the model was adopted and it became central to the ethos and success of the school – (mentioned very positively in all Ofsted reports).
There are many reasons why all aspects of the model have continued to be at the heart of the school’s achievements.
Firstly, there is a total commitment to the model. All new staff attend training run by Jenny or a member of her team and they are supported by staff members who are very familiar with it.
It is well resourced and its success in classrooms, the dining hall, the playground and across the whole school community is regularly monitored and any weaknesses are addressed via an action plan following consultation with staff, governors, the Pupil Council and parents.
Staff and pupils are empowered to suggest ways in which improvements can be made. For example, lunchtime procedures and play times were significantly improved when support staff took on responsibility for organising them, training playground helpers and friends to work with them. Staff have lots of fun too. There are many ways that they are able to help each other, especially when times are tough!
Parents have a big part to play. They are invited to attend annual workshops; they sign up to the model annually and have termly opportunities to attend a Parents Forum where issues can be discussed with the year group leader and governors. Newsletters, postcards home and stickers enable them to share in the successes of the children.
The Governing Body also plays its part. The Golden Model figures highly in the selection process for staff and the successive headteachers/ Acting heads have all continued to pursue its philosophy. They have been supportive in funding two heads, Fizz Starkey and Jane Midwinter to become accredited Quality Circle Time Trainers. This has enabled the school to keep up to date with current thinking and for Fizz, retired since 2010, to support other schools in the area.
Following the appointment of Jane to a school in special measures, Fiona Day, deputy head and a long standing member of the Motcombe Team continued the good work and with Tracy Robinson, the school’s new headteacher, well versed in the model, already having invited Jenny into a “Shining up the Model” day there is no doubt that the community will continue to flourish and that Motcombe children will continue to be happy, thriving and successful learners.
That Saturday course attended 20 years ago has a lot to answer for! It changed my life and consequently the lives of many others.
Fizz Starkey
January 2015