Welcome from the Headteacher

I have been head teacher at Manor Park First School since January 2005. This is my third headship which will sadly bring me towards the tail end of a career which began in 1971 in an inner city junior school in Portsmouth . How times and education have changed since then! When the major political changes in education began towards the end of the eighties (and have continued full speed ever since) I wondered how I, and many of my colleagues, would cope. I for one did not imagine that the pace of change would be quite so relentless and hectic as it undoubtedly has been – and most of it, to begin with, focused on primary education.

I suppose what kept so many of us involved and responsive to the immense challenges that faced us, was that we could begin to see through the political upheavals and the fact that no-one was listening to us, towards an improved education for all our young children. We wanted to continue and to bring all our experience and understanding of how children learn into this brave new world.

Now we have the structure of the national curriculum to inform our teaching, national standards against which to measure each child’s progress, support systems in place for the learning needs of all our children and even some government funding to improve school buildings. All these measures have, in the long term, brought benefits.

For me however, the greatest joy is to still be involved in education at a time when the pendulum is beginning to swing back the other way! At last, there is official recognition that learning needs to be connected for young children to make sense of it. That all children learn best when they are not only having fun with their learning but are also being supportively challenged by it too. That the development of the whole child emotionally, spiritually, physically and academically is the most important gift that we can give in partnership with our children’s parents, and that this gift can be creative, innovative and exciting – and still deliver the national curriculum!

These are our aims at Manor Park and we, as a staff, are very excited and positive about our role. It is a great privilege to lead such a committed team of professionals at this time. Change is all around us, both nationally and for our school. The difference for us is that this time around we are in control and we are teaching and learning in a way that we know works.

I hope that you and your child will be very happy during your time at Manor Park and that together we will share many memorable moments in your child’s life. I am sure we shall – thank you

Jane Mockridge

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