INTERVIEW

ActiveKids

Aiming High

They say you can always judge a school by its head and there is certainly an element of truth in that. Mary chats to the head of Leicester High School for Girls, Alan Whelpdale

IFIRST MET Alan about nine years ago when I went to visit Leicester High for The Good Schools’ Guide. I’ve met many heads over the years and most are pleasant, competent, often charismatic individuals running good schools, exceptional schools in many cases. Some stand out but, some not always for the right reasons. There’s the odd arrogant one, occasional condescending one and quite a few have a bit of a God complex. But by and large far more are people who do a really good job of selling their school, run it well and inspire confidence; which, as a parent, is exactly what you want.

Alan had been at Leicester High School for just over a year when I met him for the first time and his enthusiasm was infectious. I described him at the time as ‘chatty, intense and open,’ and nine years later he’s still the same, very likeable. His enthusiasm and love for his school is not only infectious, it’s inspiring. You can’t help but join in and this is apparent when you meet the staff and the girls too.

Leicester High is a girls’ school for ages 3-18 situated in the middle of Leicester. It’s a small school of 340 bright girls who are there on academic merit. Class sizes are small and the education could be classed as ‘boutique and bespoke.’ Parents send their girls here because they strongly believe in single sex education and want the best education they can get for their daughters. Many of them are making huge sacrifices to be able to afford the fees. A lot are medics with the majority of the rest being business owners. Many are from an Asian background, reflecting the demographic of Leicester.

And it’s definitely true that parents certainly look at the head when they choose a school. Alan in many ways reflects the parents he has at the school. Proud of his humble beginnings in South Yorkshire he realised that education was going to be the way he would be able to progress, and these parents feel exactly the same for their daughters. He’s bright with a love of history so worked hard at school and got himself to university, ‘the first from my family to get there.’ He quickly realised that teaching history was what he wanted to do ‘as I could see that gaining a good education can change lives. It had changed mine and I wanted to be able to do the same for students.’

His plan was never to be a head and he fell into it really after initially turning down a role in Durham despite being acting head for almost a year. He quickly realised his mistake and the rest as they say is history and Leicester High’s gain.

Leicester High is made up of clever girls who work and play hard. Sixty percent of the sixth form cohort take maths, biology and chemistry at A levels with many of them then going to medical school. And many go on to study engineering as well, still sadly an unusual subject for girls. But humanities are also popular. Class sizes are small throughout the school, with a maximum of 20 lower down the school and smaller than that in the sixth form.

‘The girls make memories and friendships here that last a lifetime,’ says Alan and you can see why. The small numbers mean teachers know the girls well and vice versa. Pastorally this means the girls are well looked after with pupils being trained as mentors and scooping up newcomers and making them welcome. Students’ voices are heard and the girls are not frightened to voice an opinion with the School Council heavily involved with some decisions ‘but ultimately it’s down to me,’ says Alan.

There’s plenty of opportunities for sport including rugby, cricket

and football as well as 80 extra- curricular groups so enrichment is a huge part of the school. Litter picking, Mandarin, cheerleading, self-defence and everything in between. If you can think of it, they are probably doing it!

Mental health and wellbeing is thankfully much more prominently on the agenda at schools now. And Alan is well aware of this. Leicester High gets tremendous results but not at a cost to mental health. Parents are made very aware of wellbeing and the need for the

‘His enthusiasm and love for his school is not only infectious, it’s inspiring. You can’t help but join in’

girls to ha e a break ’ al ays telling parents to ha e a p cut off hen their daughters need to be turning off electronic appliances particularly their phones.

‘We are a small school when it comes to size but not small in a bition or ision a al ays thinking about the difference can ake s a teacher you are in uencing the li es and future of your pupils so we need to make it count.’

As I said, when you meet Alan who is a youthful livewire, full of zest and enthusiasm you are carried along with him. He has a great sense of humour and a pretty good eye for the ridiculous as well. We can see why parents love him, and the girls too. That joie de vivre needs bottling.