Wolsey Infant and Nursery School

As a result of doing PROGRESS, the staff is communicating better with me, and with each other. The whole atmosphere is more energy driven. We have a lot more sharing of ideas, a lot more creativity happening and a lot more initiative. Terry Cefai, headteacher

When Terry Cefai took over as headteacher at Wolsey Infant and Nursery School, she told staff that she wanted to lead a school where people could speak their minds, make independent decisions and find the best ways of ensuring that children were excited by the learning on offer.

Their response baffled her. They seemed to be saying that they did not want to take on the new responsibility being offered them, even while they showed signs of resenting the absence of the very freedoms she was trying to give them.

The PROGRESS Programme enabled staff to see that they were in a prison without walls. It freed up teachers, non-teaching staff and the headteacher to find their way towards a genuinely shared vision of the school.

A number of issues had been festering beneath the surface – sapping energy and creating disharmony. They had to be opened up and dealt with.

An early development was an attempt to improve communication between non-teaching staff and the headteacher by setting up a monthly meeting. The sessions started negatively – dominated by moaning and complaining. But once something good came out of the meetings, in this case improved access to IT for non-teaching staff, the discussions became much more positive.

The headteacher reports a number of benefits from taking part in PROGRESS. These include:

• People talking more directly about day-to-day issues in the school
• Staff showing and taking more initiative
• A higher level of creativity and energy around the school
• More celebration of achievement by other staff members
• Less stress in carrying out SATS
• Staff making the curriculum more appropriate to individual children

The headteacher reflects that all these are manifestations of a fundamental shift in the culture of the school, with staff now knowing that they can make things happen. School life, as a consequence, is less predictable and more exciting.