MAUREEN JOHNSON – HEAD TEACHER OF WEALD OF KENT GRAMMAR
SCHOOL
Monday 12 October – note of phone conversation
Ethos and overall pupil experience: will be replicated at both sites – at policy and
day to day level. Same product offered to parents, staff, children. If cut school in any
shape/form, will be the Weald of Kent through and through. Clearly the pupils in the
annexe will be in a smaller community, so important to bring them to the main site
where they have the chance to function as a whole unit. They will be brought up to
the Tonbridge site at least one morning a week. During that morning, they will
engage as one single cohort, share values and ethos. One assembly, PSHE and
some teaching time together, probably on PE. Children on the Tonbridge site would
engage with the Sevenoaks-based pupils at least once a week as part of the whole
school assembly and, as the Sevenoaks site grows, more frequently, including
through the house system, and the possible creation of a lecture theatre for sixth-
formers on the Sevenoaks site.
House system: All students organised in houses, currently six, based on continents.
Usually but not always by form group. With expansion of school would mix house
groups across the year, so to permeate all forms. House system would permeate
whole curriculum and there would be opportunities to do that at least 6 times a year
(once a half term) – bringing houses together and students from both sites for e.g.
French plays in house groupings, with element of competition. Also opportunity for
cross-school house-based activities, such as sports day.
Core subjects: All core curriculum subjects would be overseen by a single head of
Department (HoD). Each member of the senior leadership group (SLG) would
oversee two HoDs. The HoD would be responsible for line managing all of the staff
in that subject area across both sites, ensuring consistent content and consistent
standards of delivery of lessons (which the school aim to be at least ‘good’ if not
‘outstanding’). The HoD would be work with the teachers on both sites to discuss
expectations and interventions for all of the pupils in each year group, not separate
discussions for different sites, to ensure the pupils on both sites get the outcomes
and interventions the SLG expects. Departments would use the same data set, joint
observations and regular review meetings to set expectations and judge progress in
each subject.
Staff movement: The SLG members and HoDs would work across both sites, and
visit each site regularly for example to observe lessons. Some teaching staff would
move from the Sevenoaks site to the Tonbridge site at least once a week with the
students, but are likely to come together more frequently where it is efficient to do so,
e.g. for middle management training once a week. Other staff training events would
be held jointly across both sites. Some existing staff would prefer to remain based at
one site or the other, but all new staff would be on contracts spanning both sites.
Travel arrangements: the school is confident the travel arrangements between the
sites can be made smoothly, using existing bus companies which transport pupils
who live in Sevenoaks to the Tonbridge site.
Policies, including uniform: All policies would apply across both sites –
safeguarding, behaviour, health and safety etc. This will include uniform, and PE kit,
which would be exactly the same on both sites.
Monitoring and evaluation of integration: This will be the key priority for the SLG
and the governing body, across all areas of the school improvement plan. Each
governing ‘pair’ (SLG member plus two governors) would be tasked with gathering
intelligence on integration and making any necessary changes in their area of focus
to ensure an integrated experience for all pupils in the expanded school.