About

In June 2016 I was appointed as Headteacher Designate for the Aureus School, part of the GLF MAT, soon to open in Didcot. I will start in post from January 2017, and our school will open in September 2017 with our first cohort.

Our school’s mission statement is: ‘nurturing hearts and minds’ as we will provide our school community with a holistic education. We will strive to educate the WHOLE CHILD and fulfill our MAT vision to: Grow, Learn, Flourish.

At the moment out school is a construction site, our staff is just me (until we start recruiting in January) and our community are the prospective parents and students we have met at a series of open events. I am excited to see this community grow and stabilise over the coming months.

I have been asked why my blog is called The Hopeful Headteacher – I am an optimist and am hopeful that the education system can and will be improved by forward thinking leaders; I am keen to create a school with a wellbeing culture, where Every Teacher Matters (read Kathryn Lovewell’s book) and where the individual people and their relationships with the learning community are high priority.

I have been asked who my intended readership is – I hope that this blog will appeal to a wide audience: my colleagues at Aureus, GLF and beyond; my parent body; my local community; my #WomenEd community; aspirant/ first-time Headteachers who are making their leadership journeys with me; the educators who I respect and follow; my critical friends in the educational world.

Follow our journey here as I chart our progress over the coming months…Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

Hannah, The Hopeful Headteacher.