(Photo Clevedon School Prospectus)

 

John Wells the Headmaster took the time to talk to me and show me around Clevedon School, a place that is clearly on the rise, to the great benefit of young people and the wider community in Clevedon.

 

John joined as Head at Clevedon three years ago. He explained in 2003 Clevedon School, then known locally as ‘The Comp’ received a poor OFSTED report narrowly missing ‘special measures’. There had been significant problems in management, and the school lacked both aspiration and expectation. Between 10% and 15% of children living in Clevedon were being sent to schools outside the town because of the school’s poor reputation.

 

John Wells explained he has introduced a radical system of ‘student centred education’. This has included the establishment of four ‘Houses’: Conygar, Marine, Valley and Walton, to help introduce a combination of traditional values and forward looking systems based on ‘positive relationships’ and ‘mutual respect’, with an emphasis on manners, etiquette, student responsibility and leadership. The ‘Houses’ system has also brought in a vertical pastoral system to help the students relate and feel a greater sense of community and comradeship whatever their age.

 

 The ‘discovery’ computer centre with the schools own ‘learning bug’ software is popular and also starting to become an income earner for the school as other schools are starting to buy in to the system.

 

The wider community is also benefiting from the changes at Clevedon School, with 50 local people regularly attending foreign language classes and a further 70 members of the public signed up to online language learning via the schools website, the School’s new Specialist College Coordinator Tamsin Chambers explained.

 

The school is clearly working well under its new head, who also took the time to show me the new uniforms which have been designed with student involvement to promote ownership and pride, these are being launched for year 7’s in September and for years 7,8 & 9 from 2009.

 

(photo of Brian Mathew and John Wells with the new Clevedon School uniform)

 

The main problems at the school as outlined by John Wells are related to infrastructure and access. The condition of some of the buildings (Arts and Technology blocks), which are in such a poor state, that just a year and a half ago were burgled by thieves who managed to break through the walls to steal a number of computers.

 

(photo of Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate Brian Mathew pointing out the plywood wall to the technology block, where burglars broke in a year and a half ago)

 

Access to the school is through a single narrow residential street which becomes choked in either direction at the beginning and end of the School day. The obvious solution, a new exit road running along the edge of the playing fields to join the B3124 road to Portishead, has so far fallen on the deaf ears of the planning and highways departments. The school is also encouraging students to make their own way to and from school by walking or using bikes, which would not only help to free up the road and save on the production of greenhouse gasses, but could save those parents who use the car to bring their children to school as much as £535 a year (DfT 2006).

 

The future looks bright for Clevedon School, it is networking with the other (primary) schools in Clevedon over issues such as safety and bullying and its OFSTED rating has improved, with its specialist status in Languages restored. In short it was a pleasure to visit and experience first hand a school that looks destined to do great things for Clevedon and its young people.

 

(Photo Headmaster John Wells with students, from Clevedon School prospectus)

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