Leadership by example {CASE STUDY}
Thriving in the face of adversity We speak to KEITH RONDEAU, headteacher at St Marks primary school in Dudley, about being one of just four schools nationally to be mentioned in the Education Endowment Foundation report - and why failing quickly is the key to succeeding
Tell us a little bit about your school and your role here. We are a one-and-a-half form entry school in Pensnett, Dudley. We have 328 children on roll, including our nursery provision. I took up the post of headteacher in April 2019 - this is my first headship and I only had two full terms under my belt when the pandemic hit. Fair to say, it has been something of a steep learning curve. How did you come to be one of just four schools nationally to be directly referenced in the Education Endowment Foundation (EFF) report?
24
November 2021
During the lockdown I was participating in regular online forum meetings with the brilliant team at Challenging Education; these were called Radio RADY. Essentially, it was an open forum for school staff and leaders from different settings - specialist, secondary, primary, from across the country, including Wales, and we talked about specific themes that were impacting schools and communities during lockdown, suggesting ideas about how we could overcome them. Off the back of that I received an email asking me to talk about some of the stuff that we’ve been doing here at St. Marks. I was a) flattered to be
