This week was the culmination of our application process to find the next Head and Deputy Head of Orley Farm. Application letters were processed last week that saw a strong shortlist of five candidates. On Monday, each of the five had a two minute window to address the school, giving their reasons why they could fulfil this role successfully for the rest of the year. In secret, I hoped that five would become less through this process but was genuinely blown away with the articulate and professional speeches that each gave. Over 220 pupils exercised their rights to vote using our intranet ballot system…the government could learn a thing or two here!
And then came the interviews. Each candidate had a fifteen minute grilling from Miss Mowle, Mr Ravasse and myself, using the same question pack that I use for prospective teachers. Again, we hoped that the field would naturally thin…it didn’t! And so, Miss Mowle, Mr Ravasse and I gave our findings to the staff, in what turned into a 45 minute staff meeting, and they in turn cast their votes into the 260+ to give us fine margins…
It gives me great pleasure to announce that Beatrice Barbulescu will be Head of School and Zayn Hussain will be the Deputy Head of School. They will have large shoes to fill…as demonstrated by Jordan and Dhillon last year. One powerful stat that I would like to share, considering that this is our ‘Risk Taking’ half term…last year eight candidates put themselves forward…this year it was twelve…congratulations to everyone who put themselves out there…
Tim Calvey