HEADTEACHER Rob Cawley says his first year at Felixstowe's Deben High School has been “the most exhilarating and amazing year” of his career.The school in Garrison Lane has undergone major change in the past 12 months and he says there is still more to do.
HEADTEACHER Rob Cawley says his first year at Felixstowe's Deben High School has been “the most exhilarating and amazing year” of his career.
The school in Garrison Lane has undergone major change in the past 12 months and he says there is still more to do.
It is though a strange time for the school - Deben will close in four years' time to make way for a new �32 million super-school for the resort, but it is essential it keeps moving forward and improving for its existing students in the meantime.
“This first year has been like a blink - but it has been the most exhilarating and amazing year of my career,” said Mr Cawley.
“While we have achieved so much already, Rome wasn't built in a day and there is still so much to do.
“Because time is limited and the school closes in four years, there is a big pressure - we are trying to do our best here at Deben to build on the school's strengths but also to look ahead to the new school, to make that the best we can for the future for Felixstowe, for students here and those to come. It's a real driver.”
Mr Cawley said there is huge interest in the new school - models of possible design have already been made - but stressed it was what would happen inside, the education provided, which was most important.
Over the past year, he has put in place a new leadership team at Deben, encouraged pupils to take up responsibility and be involved in the running of their school through various projects, forums, peer mentors and ambassador schemes, reintroducing head boy and girl, and bringing back prefects, and set up forums to encourage parents to come into school and discuss its working.
New strategies have focussed on raising students' aspirations and achievements, and there has been an emphasis on working with the community.
Are the changes at Deben High for the better? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
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