A message from Chris Malone, new Head of Education & Learning

I hope you have had a positive start to the term. I am looking forward to meeting education leaders, teachers, practitioners and of course children across Warwickshire, so that I can learn more about your current successes and challenges. My most recent experience is as Strategic Lead for Education Quality in Oxfordshire, following a long career in education across a wide range of roles including primary headship, inspection and commissioning.

In Oxfordshire I have established a successful county-wide system-led school improvement service in partnership with the Teaching School Alliance. I look forward to finding out more about your Teaching Schools, and your ‘system leaders’. I completely support the new role of councils as one of the partners around the table of school improvement; you are the experts!

At this turbulent time in education, I fly three flags: 

The first reflects my value-driven approach; making a difference. I enjoy working with teams and partners to maximise the impact of all that we do. 

The second is a relentless focus on children and their educational achievements, especially learners less likely to succeed. I look forward to visiting your schools and am especially keen to hear about children eligible for pupil premium who have out-performed their peers. I believe strongly that leadership in education is about maximising children’s life chances, and not about bureaucracy. I sometimes remind myself of Charles Dickens’ image of the Circumlocution Office where papers pile up and nothing is achieved, to make sure that I do not fall into that trap. This is a helpful reminder as we shape the new world of academies and trusts. 

The third is the curriculum. We know that Ofsted is planning big changes for next year and I anticipate a welcome revival in the value placed on the curriculum as an enabler, both academically, and for the well-being of children and adults. 

I look forward to meeting you in person in due course, and meanwhile I invite you to email me with examples of recent successes in your school. Do send me digital photos as there is a blank wall in my office beside the map of all Warwickshire’s schools.

Chris begins in her post on 25th September. You can contact her by email on chrismalone@warwickshire.gov.uk.