The headteacher at a Derbyshire school has been reflecting on her first 12 months in charge as she looks forward to the new academic year.
Elise Piper-Hadfield has been a teacher at Longford CofE Primary School for six years but, in September 2021, she took over the headship from Philip Searson.
The school became part of the Embark Federation, which oversees 15 schools in the county, in August 2019 and Mrs Piper-Hadfield and school staff have worked hard to diversify the curriculum taught at Longford over the past year, attracting praise from other schools in the county for making pupils aware of real-world issues.
Headteacher Elise Piper-Hadfield with pupils.
“The subjects covered at our school centre around topics such as the current refugee crisis, female activists, Pride month and environmental issues,” said Mrs Piper-Hadfield, who also leads on mathematics, humanities and the curriculum at Longford CofE Primary School.
“Next month (October), we’ll have assemblies on Black History Month and, earlier this year, we took part in the Faith Trail initiative – visiting multiple places of worship – organised by the Derby Open Centre. That was fantastic; we welcomed them into school, and the feedback from the children was really positive. I’ve had a few headteachers contact me asking to visit and for advice on how to make the curriculum in their schools more diverse.
“We love having visitors into school. Since last September, we’ve welcomed the High Sheriff of Derbyshire and Gogglebox star Baasit Siddiqui into school, and our weekly ‘Commando Joe’ sessions are always popular.” Commando Joe is a company that has ex-Military personnel delivering programmes within a school setting, that helps children develop their communication and leadership skills. They also focus the sessions around our core school of empathy, resilience, kindness, respect and co-operation.
“It’s important to me that we make the most of our external links with outside organisations and celebrate events, especially after two years of disruption due to covid.
“We brought everyone together to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in the summer; we had children dress up as the Red Arrows with streamers attached to the tails of their jumpers and our younger children acted out the Coronation.
“We came together recently to talk about the sad death of Her Majesty, as, understandably, many of our children had questions.”
There are currently 50 pupils on roll at Longford CofE Primary School – their neighbours are cows in a field adjacent to the school – and Mrs Piper-Hadfield says that this means that teaching is personalised, and that the school is very much part of the community in the village, near Ashbourne.
Children take part in regular walks around the village where the younger children ‘buddy’ up with older pupils. The school is very excited about future plans too, having recently been given the use of their neighbours’ orchard as an outdoor learning environment.
“Outdoor learning helps to improve physical and mental health, and is key to the development of key Early Years skills,” added Mrs Piper-Hadfield, who says she is proud with her school’s Key Stage 2 SATS results, which were 30% higher than the combined national average.
“The use of the orchard will enable us to expand our outdoor learning facilities even further and we’re extremely grateful to our neighbours for allowing us to use it.
“We have lots of plans for our outdoor learning and I’m certain that the orchard is going to be a huge hit with our pupils.”
Mrs Piper-Hadfield is currently inviting any parents who wish to visit the school or enquire about places (both in-year and for Reception 2023), to contact her personally – headteacher@longford.derbyshire.sch.uk.
Parents in Derbyshire can apply for a primary, infant or junior school place for their child through the Derbyshire County Council website from 9am on November 7. They have until January 15, 2023 to submit an application.
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