Meet the Colourful and Creative Academy Overcoming Barriers to both Learning and Social Cohesion
Twice ‘outstanding’ Thames View Infants represents equality, and that’s rubbed off on the neighbouring environment
- by Jacob Stow
Passion is an overused word these days, but when Paul Jordan, headteacher at Thames View Infants (TVI), deploys it, it doesn’t ring hollow.
“This is my calling,” he says of his position. “It’s a vocation. The school is my family, my life.”
It is partly about commitment – Paul’s passion for East London, for infant education, and for the school he has led for 10 years, through two ‘outstanding’ inspections, has kept him in post when more financially lucrative opportunities have come calling and, more importantly, helped to propel TVI into the top 5% of infant schools nationally for attainment – in circumstances that are never less than challenging.
But it is also about enthusiasm and excitement. It is fair to say that it takes passion for one’s cause to get up and dance in assembly on one of the hottest afternoons of the year (which 3 to 7 witnessed), or to put on a Helen Shapiro-based cabaret act at Christmas and make it work across countless cultural divides (which, sadly, we didn’t).
At TVI, Paul tells us, academic outcomes and a vibrant – a passionate – approach to headship and teaching in general are inextricably linked.
What comes across loud and clear over the course of our conversation, and as the interview pauses briefly once, twice, three times for some of the challenges of leading a school to be confronted, is that Paul genuinely cares for his charges and the work he and his team are doing to effect positive change in the wider community…
Paul is also keen to set up a Multi Academy Trust, and is actively seeking an infant school requiring improvement in TVI’s vicinity that would be keen to embrace his approach to education.
“I think this school represents equality, and that’s rubbed off on the neighbouring environment,” Paul sums their efforts up.
Name: Thames View Infants
Headteacher: Paul Jordan
Location: Barking
Ofsted rating: Outstanding
Size: 400+ pupils
Extra info: Proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is well above the national average
