Sarah Wordlaw took up her headship of Streatham Wells Primary School in September 2022. She’d previously worked in neighbouring boroughs as a deputy head and before that, as an assistant head. Sarah has spent her entire career in education, progressing from an HLTA through to her current position as Headteacher. Sarah’s passion for schools shone through our interview, and the empathy and respect she has for all roles within a school were clear from the start.

Under Sarah and the leadership team, the school was graded ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted in January 2024. The TEP scores for Streatham Wells are impressive across the board, and I was keen to understand the journey Sarah and the wider school have been on achieve this.  

The year Sarah started as head (2022/23) was a difficult one. The school went through the process of academisation (joining The Charter Schools Educational Trust), the process having been instigated by the previous headteacher. Not only this, but Sarah had to navigate being a brand-new face –

“The first year is always difficult, you’re trying to build trust and relationships with people when you’re not the expert in the school, because you’re new to the school, you don’t know the community and you don’t know the children. People don’t know if they can trust you yet.”

Sarah spent time working on aligning her team with her vision, of ‘growing hearts and minds’, as well as focusing on staff workload and wellbeing, and putting inclusive practices at the heart of everything they do. There were shifts in the leadership team and the expected level of staff turnover initially, and the TEP scores didn’t change overnight. But the survey in Spring 2024 has shown significant progress since the Autumn 2023 survey and is beginning to reflect the substantial work Sarah and her team have done at the school.

Figure 1 shows a small selection of TEP results from across five of our drivers to demonstrate the progress that has been made across the board at Streatham Wells. Sarah signposted a few specific initiatives that could be behind these scores.

Championing diversity and inclusion

Sarah is particularly proud of their strong scores in diversity and inclusion. She recently published a book on representation in the primary curriculum, ‘Time to Shake Up the Primary Curriculum: A step-by-step guide to creating a global, diverse and inclusive school’ (Figure 2). Diversity and inclusion efforts extend beyond students. Recruitment processes have been revamped to attract a wide range of candidates, such as posting job adverts widely and sharing interview questions in advance.

“It’s a journey and never a tick-box activity,” Sarah explains. She is excited about new hires, the team at her school represents a wide range of different people from different backgrounds, and is representative of the school community.

Fostering a supportive and flexible work environment

Sarah is an open and honest leader who prioritises her staff and students daily. She aims to speak to every staff member one-to-one each day to understand their personal and professional needs. “I want everyone to be empowered to do the things that make their hearts sing, both in school and outside of school.” Despite losing two irreplaceable staff members this year who are fulfilling their dream of opening their own nursery, Sarah is proud of their achievement, viewing it as a testament to the school’s vision.

On making schools more flexible workplaces, Sarah says, “We have lives to live. The richer you are as a human outside the workplace, the richer the practitioner you’ll be inside.” She encourages staff to discuss family events needing time off and tries to accommodate these needs. Acknowledging that wellbeing is ‘massive,’ she states, “There’s never enough time and there’s never enough money, but I try and do as many things as possible that aren’t tokenistic.” Staff are offered twice-weekly fitness classes, which are also available to parents and well-received.

Regarding workload and marking, Sarah expects live-marking during lessons only.

“It’s important to reflect on what you’re doing and ask yourself why. I always say to the team I’m happy to be challenged. If it’s not for the children, why are we doing it?”

She aims to create an atmosphere where staff feel safe and supported to seek help. “It’s about creating an atmosphere where people are happy to come and say ‘I need help, I need a half-day out of class, and I’m struggling with this,’ and 99% of the time, if I can do it, I will. I am happy to step in to cover classes and teach. We try and work dynamically to give people an opportunity to feel safe to come forward and ask what they need.”

Shaking up curriculum planning and building team spirit

“I hate bureaucratic nonsense!”

Sarah’s approach to reforming school practices is firmly grounded in research. Previously, the Early Years provision operated in isolation from the rest of the school. Sarah and her leadership team collaborated with subject leaders to map out the entire curriculum journey from age 3 to 11, fostering a culture where staff members across the school share their expertise.

They introduced subject hubs involving everyone, including TA’s. Each hub oversees its respective subject, such as Design & Technology (D&T) or English, engaging with students, reviewing their work, and examining curriculum maps. Sarah aimed for staff to feel integrated into the school’s fabric, receiving positive feedback from long-time staff members who previously lacked opportunities to observe books across different phases.

“This initiative allows people to understand our school’s collective efforts,” Sarah emphasized. “It’s crucial; otherwise, staying within your own class can be isolating.” Their impressive TEP inclusion scores (Figure 1) reflect this collaborative approach.

Embracing feedback: Insights from TEP surveys

Sarah values the regularity of the surveys, conducted once per term, as they provide a comprehensive snapshot of the school year. She particularly appreciates the APC scoring system, describing herself as a 'data nerd'. Currently, she is exploring the question of what defines a 'challenger'. Sarah has found the comment feature valuable, noting that many challengers do not provide comments. She’s spent time reflecting:

“Are they a challenger whose heart and mind we can change into a passive? Or are they a challenger just because they’re a challenger? As a head you have to take a deep breath and know that you can’t change everybody’s heart and minds, and you can’t control everything. As long as somebody’s coming to school and doing what you ask them to do, and the children are getting a great deal, that’s all that matters.”

If you’d like to read more about our unique-APC scoring please click here to read our blog.

Do you want to take part in TEP?

We’re now open to schools and trusts to join us for the 2024/25 academic year, with the first census point taking place in November 2024. Please get in touch now for a demonstration of what TEP could do for your institution, email hello@tep.uk

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