I am pleased and proud to announce that I was recently appointed as the new Head Teacher of Kingsmeadow Community School from September 2024, following the retirement of Mr Volpe. There was a lot of interest in the Head Teacher role, with a large number of high quality applicants and a strong field of school leaders interviewed from across the region. This is testimony to the good reputation of Kingsmeadow School for education in the Northeast.
I formally announced my appointment to students in assemblies this week. This is my formal announcement to you our parents, carers and wider community.Â
I think it is only right to share with students and parents exactly what my vision and plans are for Kingsmeadow Community School. I have, therefore, attached a video of the assembly I conducted for our students. In it you will see that I explain my vision and intentions for the school. These are the same vision and intentions which I described to the interview panel for the role.
My top three priorities are linked to the school's Core Values of Integrity, Resilience and Respect. I explain further in the video, but to summarise:
Aspiration & Metacognition: Encourage students to aim for more than they believe they can achieve. Ensure that teachers give students the knowledge and understanding that they need in order to reach that level.
Extended Thinking, Reading & Writing: Ensure that all lessons include times for students to work independently on longer, difficult tasks. Teach them the skills they need to read longer and more complex texts, to produce detailed written responses and to break larger problems down into manageable steps to think through.
Working Together & Communicating: Keep positive relationships between students and staff at the forefront of everything we do. Improve Kingsmeadow School's regular communication with home, seeking to give parents, carers and families the knowledge and tools they need to support the learning of their young people.
Kingsmeadow Community School, the students in the school and members of our wider community are very successful and work together well. We can and will build on this further.
Mark Barrett
Head Teacher DesignateÂ