Conversation with Ray Tarleton by Geoff Barton

During the Christmas holidays I had this message from a colleague:

Ray
I've really enjoyed the vibrancy of your school's website and the upbeat nature of your blogs. In fact your and my school feel remarkably similar - focused on young people, on innovation, and on not chasing league table rankings through dubious measures.

I was wondering whebther you might be happy to have an email conversation with me for the TES. Our aim is to showcase the day-to-day work and vision of great school leaders. If you were interested, I'd email a question, you'd answer it, I'd ask another ... and so on for 600 words or so.

Let me know if interested and whether there's a particular angle you'd like to focus on (eg Trust status).
GB

So we emailed each other and below is the edited conversation which will appear in the Times Educational Supplement:


Ray Tarleton is the Principal at South Dartmoor Community School in Devon. It is a specialist sports college, a DCSF training school and one of the first schools in England to take on Trust status. With so much suspicion and controversy surrounding the Government’s promotion of Trust Schools, that was the focus of our conversation.


GB:
Your school has had just over a term of Trust status. What was the thinking behind applying to become a Trust School?

RT:
For me the question was why not rather than why. It was Government policy, supported by the major opposition party so there were no politics. Five other local secondaries were in favour and applied for pathfinder status at the same time. Devon LA took a really supportive and positive line. We also had a year to look at the issues with full public consultation before taking the decision to go for it.

In reality we were already operating to the trust agenda with a range of external partners with whom we had really deep links and were developing materials - Capita Children's Services, Exeter University, TLO and a local quarrying company. Even though we knew them well, I approached each partner tentatively and was delighted by the enthusiastic reactions of each.

GB:
What benefits did you see Trust status as bringing?

RT:
I saw it as another way of raising standards by researching ways in which changing practice can empower the profession. That's long overdue. Our partners wanted to link closely with us to innovate, experiment and give teachers a role in developing new practice. The vision for the Trust was set early and this, in itself, was a great process, forcing us to state clearly and simply what we hoped to achieve.

The Chair of the Trust Board, Professor Debra Myhill, is pushing hard for us to work at the very boundaries disadvantage and under-achievement. After all, this is the group that, in the last 50 years, has flatlined where university applications are concerned. We have identified the really hard to reach cohort in one year group (starting with Year 9). With direct help from Capita, we are aiming to bring the school into the home through widespread use of the Learning Gateway. For me, it's the equivalent of on-line banking, but we've still got a lot of catching up to do in education. We've started a training programme for all parents, using their children as tutors and assisted by Capita staff and our own experts.


GB:
So describe to me how this is working in practice - on a day-to-day level in school

RT:
Two key Departments, Science and Maths, are now in formal research partnerships with Exeter University, with a teacher from each working for part of the week there. In Maths, for example, a subject under the spotlight just now in all schools, as you know, they are developing the children's questioning skills. And this is rigorous research that we all hope will have national implications - academics and teachers working together, not for a qualification, but to raise standards across the system.


GB:
What evidence have you got of how it's helping to raise standards?

RT:
The declared aim of one of our Trust partners, Exeter University, is to: 'broaden the notion of what standards are.' Just hearing that from such a prestigious organisation is refreshing. Put that alongside their statement that they will work with us to 're-professionalise teachers' and 'help them take control of their own practice' and you have a force for genuine standards going way beyond traditional measures.

The Trust Board challenges the school leadership with a rigour and honesty that comes from our shared educational values. It's all very public - plans, notes and aspirations published on our website, communicating with parents and the wider community. It's early days on evidence but developing staff in these ways, having the support of university colleagues, and working with Capita to extend data use and electronic communication with parents, these all support new ways of working without which there would be limited improvements in standards.

GB:
What do you predict longer-term?

RT:
My guess is that there will soon be a national body representing Trust partners from a range of organisations - stakeholders who will be able to speak with the authority that comes from involvement in schools and direct knowledge. And what a powerful group that will be, a real force for raising standards!

GB: Thank you. Your enthusiasm for Trust status is refreshing and the plans really exciting. Good luck with the whole venture and let’s talk again in a year or so to talk about the impact.