Located near the border of Sandwell we also welcome students from nearby Birmingham and Walsall. We are fully committed to comprehensive education and our diverse community of nearly 1200 students is a real strength which helps to prepare our students for life after secondary education.
Our educational philosophy is simple. First and foremost we want every child to feel happy and excited about coming to school. Only when each child feels secure and comfortable can we challenge them to grow and learn together.
We want our students to return home telling their families of the memorable exciting learning experiences they have enjoyed. Experiences that make it easier to recall the detail necessary for exam success and experiences that develop their character as much as their academic potential.
Our passion is helping young people to flourish and become confident, capable adults ready for the world ahead.
This passion creates a genuine warmth that supports every member of our Q3 community and helps to keep the academic and well-being of every child sharply in focus and drives our ambition for continual improvement.
Only if our staff can say that what we provide is good enough for their own children is it good enough for anyone else and I’m proud to say this commitment to care, coupled with high academic ambition is helping all our young people to succeed.
I graduated from University of Liverpool in 1990 with a BA Hons Geography and a MA in Latin American Studies. After a short career as an accountant with one of the big audit firms and a year at British Steel, I soon realised that I enjoyed all aspects of training more than accountancy and I decided to re-train as a geography teacher, completing my PGCE at the University of Birmingham in 1995.
Whether as a Head of Geography and Humanities, or as a senior leader, I have always had a passion for staff development and improving the quality of teaching and learning. I have previously worked in four very different schools in four education authorities in the West Midlands, and returning to Sandwell in 2016 to become Headteacher of Q3 Academy Great Barr has been a great honour and a responsibility that I relish.
My staff and I have worked hard to establish strong relationships with the Local Authority and neighbouring schools and as a result we can quickly draw on external expertise to support students and staff. I chair the Sandwell Secondary Headteacher Partnership, and I am a member of both Sandwell Schools’ Forum and the Joint Executive Group of primary and secondary headteachers.
I am especially excited about the merging with the Mercian Trust to become a larger family of schools. This is an exciting milestone for us all. Bringing together two Trusts with very similar missions will open up many more opportunities for our students as they will benefit from the huge range of experiences we have available across the Trust. I am married with two grown up children and a love of the outdoors.
