Pupils should give things a go and not fear failure

THE new headteacher of Kidmore End Primary School says she wants to make learning fun.

Claire Spankie, 41, has taken over from Martina Parsons, who was previously the executive headteacher of the Oxford Diocese and Schools Trust.

While Ms Parsons oversaw more than one trust school, Mrs Spankie will be the designated head of just Kidmore End. She will also be joined by a new deputy headteacher, Alexandra Machin.

Miss Spankie, who lives near High Wycombe with partner Richard and their four children, joined from St Luke’s Church of England School in Maidenhead, where she has been deputy head for almost 10 years.

She had been due to start this month but decided to come into the school in June so to get to know parents and staff.

Miss Spankie said: “In term six there are lots of events that happen, such as sports days, trips and the summer fair. It has been lovely to get to know the families, the children, the teachers and the local community. I’m looking forward to setting my vision of values and really cementing those in September.

“The sense of community is clear. The moment you walk into this school, it’s full of bright, bubbly children who are really keen to learn and enthusiastic staff and parents who are all working together to achieve the best for the children. It’s a lovely, exciting place to come and work.”

Miss Spankie has held several “coffee and chat” meetings with parents to get to know the local community better. She said: “Everybody is helping me and made me feel very warm and welcome. I’ve got a lot to learn about the school and about the children, about the community and about what makes Kidmore End.

“What’s great about the school, is the number of extracurricular opportunities. The choir, the sports events, coding club, sewing club. There are so many other elements because going to primary school isn’t just about academic development, it’s about developing the whole child and giving them opportunities for the future.”

Miss Spankie, who grew up in Pembrokeshire, Wales, said that she had wanted to be a teacher since the age of nine. She recalled helping her mother Lesley, also a teacher, to set up her classroom.

She said: “I used to go to see her after school and help her with displays and I used to think that I was being a teacher. I went on to do my year 10 work experience at an infant school because, by then, I knew what I wanted to do as a career.”

But Miss Spankie admitted that learning didn’t always come easily for her and found some subjects harder than others. She said: “I loved school, I loved the opportunities. I always loved sports; I played a lot of hockey in particular but school wasn’t easy for me. I had to work hard and always found maths difficult and my mum would have to explain it to me.

“What that has given me is a desire to show other children that while there might be subjects, such as maths, that are difficult, there is always a way of learning it. You have to think ‘okay, that approach doesn’t work with that child so let’s put it into a real-life scenario’. I want to make it fun, not something that they are battling with. Maths is probably my favourite subject to teach now.”

After leaving school Miss Spankie studied industrial design technology at Brunel University during which she worked in a school for a year as teaching was what she wanted to do.

She worked at Brighton College in its art, design, technology and drama departments from the pre-prep up to the senior school. After graduating she completed her teaching PGCE at Oxford Brookes University.

Miss Spankie said her teaching ethos was to ensure that children were enjoying their time at school. She said: “I saw the joy my mum got out of helping children and I’ve always had a lot of joy out of just seeing children learn and just spending time with them and having fun.

“School should be fun and that’s really important to me. Happiness is key. A good school to me is a happy school, a school where children are happy. It’s inclusive, where every child feels valued and can achieve their full potential.

“It is about preparing children for the next steps in their school career, giving them the confidence and resilience for moving up to secondary school. The experiences we will provide for them, whether that is with visitors or trips, or the content of the curriculum, is preparing them for life in the future and giving them a view into the world beyond Kidmore End.”

Miss Spankie said one of the main lessons she wanted to impart to her pupils was that it is okay to fail. She said: “I’ve been lucky to experience many things in life and was always brought up to know the sky’s the limit. You can be whoever you want to be, have a go at everything.

“I would like our pupils to have the confidence to just give things a go. It’s okay to fail, it’s okay to not get everything right — just give it a whirl.”