Susan Milewski, Rugby Free Primary School - One Year On

Susan Milewski, Headteacher of the recently opened Free Primary School in Rugby talks about the first hurdles, successes and achievements of the school in its first year.

What a difference a year makes! I am pleased to introduce myself as Susan Milewski, the Headteacher of Rugby Free Primary School.

Over the past year and a half, it has been my privilege to see Rugby Free Primary School grow from being a thought from a local community member to being a name on a piece of paper, moving on to it being a building site and then to it finally opening it’s doors in September 2015!

Last year, we welcomed our first cohort of children. By Christmas, when we had our official school opening and presented our first ever Christmas play, the parents stated that we had ‘exceeded their expectations by far’. By the end of the year, all our children had made rapid progress and our attainment was significantly above both local and national but more than this, our children had become confident, astute and polite young people, who had high aspirations for themselves and were fully prepared to enter Key Stage One and continue their journey through education.

RFPS is my first headship and it has been a rollercoaster ride but I feel very lucky to have been given this opportunity. Each school, cohort, child and family presents a different challenge and opportunity, but nothing comes close to having the opportunity to shape the future of a school by setting it up from scratch with a clear vision and journey to success. At RFPS we aim to prepare our children for the future which lies ahead by providing a wide range of exciting learning opportunities and excellent quality teaching and learning.  

RFPS is part of a Multi Academy Trust, Knowledge School Trust. The trust is actively involved in our school and is forward thinking and professional. The trust motto is ‘ludis studiis’ meaning ‘in play, in studies’ which is very important to us and integral in all that we do as we want all learning to be fun and engaging.

The school was visited last term by the then Secretary of State for Education, the Right Honourable Nicky Morgan. After her visit, she immediately tweeted that our school was ‘inspirational’: exactly what we aim to achieve and the perfect start in a growing Academy Trust.

If you would like to find out more about our school, about our Trust or about free schools in general, please do not hesitate to contact us, our door is always open and you would be more than welcome to pop in and visit us.