Mark Oakshott
Mark Oakshott
Mark Oakshott, Head Teacher Kingswear Primary School
Mark Oakshott has been at the helm of Kingswear Primary School for over ten years. A Devon boy himself, a career in teaching in the area was one that he had planned for early on. “I’ve always been in Devon,” says Mark. “I went to Ivybridge, Manor Way Primary and then to Ivybridge Community College. I’ve always wanted to stay in Devon and luckily I’ve been able to do just that.”
Mark’s career began with a three year stint in a middle school in Exeter, teaching at both primary and secondary levels. From there he moved on to Bovey Tracey to take a senior leadership post for 5 years. His next step was to do the MPQH – the head teacher qualification – and, having achieved this, he took on his first role as a head master at Kingswear Primary School
“I didn’t actually know where Kingswear was when I applied,” says Mark. “I knew of Dartmouth and I had spoken to an advisor about the school when I saw it advertised. I came to have a look and it was quite quirky and I thought I could do the job. I just loved the location – I thought it was fantastic.”
It wasn’t long after arriving in Kingswear that Mark began to implement a series of changes with the aim of improving the school’s reputation and results. “The biggest thing for us in terms of change was to convert from two to three classes, as there were only two existing classes. We managed to do this and also managed to move some staff on who were having quite a negative impact on the school. I was then able to appoint my own staff which made a huge difference.
“Within a couple of years of coming here we went into our first Ofsted inspection. We were awarded ‘good’ overall and ‘outstanding’ for behaviour which was brilliant. Three years later we had another Ofsted inspection and received the same results.
“The new set of staff allowed us a fresh start, and with this small team we’ve been able to move very quickly. There are three teachers, five learning assistants and myself. I teach a little bit. But my position has changed over the last year.”
In 2012 Kingswear Primary School joined ‘Our School Federation’. The federation consists of four local primary schools: Kingswear, Blackawton, Allington and Stoke Fleming. “The reason we joined them is because we didn’t want to be isolated anymore,” says Mark. “We wanted to work very closely with that partnership of schools.
“The governors decided to join the federation – it was a formal federation. So we put our budgets in together so that our buying power is increased. And we are able to work with staff on CPD issues – so we have teams of teachers working together to improve teaching and learning.”
As well as creating new opportunities of development for the school, the move altered the nature of Mark’s own position within the school. Since September this year he began working with another head teacher as co-executives in charge of the four local schools, spending two days a week in Kingswear and two days at another school within the federation.
“For my career that has been really exciting. What it has also allowed us to do is develop staff from within. I have promoted Jess Alford to Head of School – so in my absence she is leading the school. It develops her own leadership skills and she is superb.
“Working in the federation has been a real success. We can really share our expertise and make our money go further, which, in this very difficult time education-wise, can only be good.”
However, despite these clear signs of progression for the village school, the issue of pupil numbers remains an ever-present trial for Mark and his team. “We are in a very inaccessible site. The reason we have managed to stay so buoyant is through our reputation. The activities we provide for the children and the results we get from them – last year our results were outstanding, in the top four in Devon. ”
The problem with pupil numbers stems from the fact that there simply aren’t enough young families in the village to sustain a school. Fortunately, a number of children make the ferry-ride across from lower Dartmouth to help boost numbers, as well as several coming in from Brixham.
“What we do find is that the parents who do come, stay,” says Mark. “They love it here and say we do a fantastic job with the children. But it is hard work to try and get pupils through the door. We need to work on that as a school, getting ourselves out there.
“We’ve got some unique selling points. We’ve got a phenomenal view, great children with outstanding behaviour, outstanding results – we’ve got everything in place. What we need are a few more pupils. The foundations are superb and I don’t think it’s about expansion. I just think it’s about getting 10 extra children a year. Just to keep us viable.”
Besides its magnificent view, the school has use of the playing field at the top of the village, a piece of farmland loaned to the school by Emma and Edward Jones and used by the school as a camping site and garden, and a small playground that Mark has plans to expand and upgrade in the near future.
“What we do, being such a small school, is try to get out into the local environment as much as possible,” says Mark. “We have fantastic links with the local sailing and rowing and we also do canoeing and kayaking.
“The staff always race in the Kingswear Regatta. We’ve also got a phenomenal folk band. Suzy Tressice comes in and runs it. She always plays. Last year we took the children out busking to help raise funds for the school. We went down to the Kingswear railway station and raised around £100.
“With restricted pupil numbers it affects our budget. So we do need to raise extra money to keep us functioning.”
As well as the school’s own fundraising, Mark has found to his delight that the Kingswear community has often rallied round to support the school when it has been in need of specific things.
“The Maxey Trust kindly built one of classrooms, and when we wanted to take our children to London last year, Kingswear Combined Charities kindly contributed towards the costs. These efforts are fantastic. They really help to give our children a better level of education.”
First published By The Dart December 2014