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Key Staff
Gareth
W Williams – Principal
 During
the past thirteen years as Headteacher/Principal of West Kirby
Residential school I have led the school through three very
successful Ofsted inspections. The overall evaluation of the last
inspection was that; "the school is an excellent school and the
standards pupils achieve are very high". The report goes on to
say "pupils achieve highly because of the challenges set them and
the expectation that they will reach their individual personal and
academic targets". Improvement since the school was inspected in
1999 has been excellent overall and my current evaluation of the
school is that we have further developed since January 2004. This
can be qualified by what the school has achieved since then; Quality
Standards in Careers including Physical Education (Sportsmark and
Activemark), Art (Artsmark) and the Enhanced National Healthy
Schools Award. From September 2007 the school has operate as a SEN
Specialist College having recently been approved with a specialism
of Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties.
In June 2003, I qualified as an External
Adviser for Performance Management. I saw this as a two way process,
one as an opportunity of going out and seeing other similar schools
and secondly an opportunity to assist others Heads and Governors in
shaping their School Improvement Plans. I am pleased to say that
most of the schools I have been involved with have been special
schools, predominately catering for pupils with Behavioural,
Emotional and Social Difficulties and all have received positive
inspection reports in the last two years. One school in particular
has given me great pleasure as the school was in special measures
when I was asked to support the Governors with their Performance
Management process. Three years ago when I conducted my first visit,
the Head was ‘Acting Head’ and the school had no clear direction.
During the past three years I have supported the Governors with
Performance Management of the Headteacher, who is now in a permanent
post and the school is out of special measures and making good
progress. In May 2007 I was successfully accredited to become a
School Improvement Partner (SIP) for special schools.
As part of my own development, in November
2001, I took part in the Leadership Programme for Serving
Headteachers (LPSH). I found the course most rewarding not only in
understanding leadership styles and adopting them to my
staff/school’s needs, but also as a useful tool to help me develop
my Senior Leadership Team and Middle Managers to a level where I
felt they would have the ability to lead their teams successfully
within school. Again evidence of this can be seen throughout the
Ofsted reports and the most recent Commission of Social Care
Inspection (CSCI) report January 2007. “The leadership and
management of the school are excellent”. “The Principal has a very
strong vision for the future of the school and has high quality
planning to support this” (Ofsed). “The Senior Management Team
provide effective management and a clear leadership”; “The school is
well managed and efficiently run, providing a safe and stable
environment for the children for studying and living there” (CSCI
2007).
Following my designation as a National Leader
of Education and the school as a National Support School in October
2006, I along with members of my Senior Leadership Team have had the
opportunity to meet and work alongside many other senior staff from
within Local Authorities, Schools and The National College. Also,
being involved with National Organisations such as NASS, NAES and
SEBDA, I continually update my knowledge and understanding of
education, and have a strong commitment to improving the quality of
teaching and learning in schools..
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