Epsom Primary and Nursery School

Emma Smith has been the Headteacher at Epsom Primary and Nursery School for four years. Prior to this she was the headteacher at Green Lane Primary and Nursery; a Kingston school. Emma has a real appetite for driving school improvement forward and has taken both schools from a vulnerable position to be schools of strength in the local community. Her successes include; achieving outstanding leadership validated by Ofsted in both schools, engaging parents and reaching the highest number of parent survey responses known to both inspection teams, empowering large staff teams who all buy into a shared vision and deploying the school budget creatively in order to secure the best outcomes for the pupils in her school. Emma is also a trained Ofsted inspector and has completed the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH)

Michelle Pollard is entering her fifth year as the Deputy Headteacher at Epsom Primary and Nursery School, previously she was deputy headteacher and SENCo at a local outstanding Infant School. Michelle’s role is rich and varied and includes deputising for the headteacher in her absence on a regular basis, developing a bespoke weekly enrichment programme to create ambition and nurture talent for our pupils and designing the school’s Enchanted Learning and Technology Suite, Epsom Primary and Nursery School’s unique library, housing the Olympic Tree. Her introduction of a usable robust whole school tracking and assessment system has enhanced data monitoring significantly. She is driven by her desire to improve outcomes for children through equality of opportunity and has been instrumental in the implementation of highly effective provision for our more able pupil group.

Marie is passionate about teaching and learning and has over 18 years of experience in education, working in schools across London and the South East. Experienced in leadership and management, Marie was a Primary School Headteacher in Kingston, moving the school from 'Requires Improvement' to 'Good'.

For the last 3 years Marie has been Assistant Head at Epsom Primary and Nursery School, focussing on Inclusion and Special Educational Needs, alongside being a mum to her three young children. Highly qualified, Marie is a Specialist Leader of Education (SLE) for the SEND Teaching School and has completed Tribal Inspection Skills training, the SENCO Leadership Programme and the National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH).

With over 11 years teaching experience, Emma has held a senior leadership position at the school for over five years, having led successfully in both English and Maths and more recently in Pupil Premium, ensuring the gap is closing for our disadvantaged children; she is also the Intervention Lead for the school. Further to this, Emma currently leads on moderation across the Partnership of Epsom and Ewell Schools for KS2, with an extensive understanding of the curriculum and teacher assessment. The schools self-evaluation of Teaching, Learning and Assessment is now graded as outstanding, which has been supported by Emma’s rigorous and relentless drive to ensure consistency across the school;

focusing on areas for developments and by providing bespoke packages of support, to staff members, to ensure teaching and learning impacts positively on all pupil outcomes. Her successes include: effectively allocating pupil premium funding, including interventions, to improve attainment and progress for disadvantaged children and constantly reviewing key teaching and learning policies to meet the ever changing educational landscape and the current needs within school.

Jo Jarvis trained at Roehampton specialising in Early Childhood Studies alongside Teaching Studies in Early Years and Key Stage One. Jo has successfully completed training in coaching and mentoring. She has an extensive background working in Early Years across maintained and private settings including day nurseries, playgroups, infant and primary schools. Having worked at Epsom Primary and Nursery school for 13 years, Jo has supported and led the growth of the EYFS provision including doubling the capacity of the maintained nursery and opening a dedicated 2 year old provision. Jo has a passion for ensuring every child has the best possible start in their learning journey, ensuring her team

constantly strive to provide high quality learning environments and experiences which engage, entice and sustain independent learning. Her successes are evidenced in the recent Ofsted rating of Outstanding for EYFS.

Fiona Allen is an experienced teacher and Leader of Safeguarding, Behaviour and Attendance. She started her career in Kingston as a Year six class teacher and Upper Key Stage 2 Leader. Here she developed a passion for working with vulnerable pupils and those with behavioural needs and became interested in working with disadvantaged families. Fiona gained experience working as an outreach worker and Children’s Centre manager before returning to school based education with the experience and drive to ‘make a difference’. She has gained valuable experience of Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare and has recently lead the school through an External Behaviour Audit and Safeguarding Audit, as well as a recent Ofsted Inspection; securing outstanding judgements throughout.

Gemma is an experienced Class Teacher and Senior Leader who has taught across EYFS and Key Stage One since joining Epsom Primary and Nursery school in 2008.

Her effective leadership and coaching skills have been responsible for sizable improvements with getting parents engaged at Epsom Primary and Nursery School. Parents are notably on board with their children’s learning and this was significantly recognised in the school’s recent OFSTED report. Gemma has inspired teams of staff to work to triple the attendance of parents at events in the EYFS and KS1. In KS2, the attendance of parent events has more than doubled, with parents consistently feeling confident that they have learnt something that they can take away and apply at home.

Motivating and developing all stakeholders to engage parents in their children’s learning journey is something that Gemma is extremely passionate about. She has seen how creative, effective strategies have helped engage and empower parents to feel equipped with the right tools in order to support their children at home and maximise children’s confidence and progress.

Rebecca Hazell has been at Epsom Primary and Nursery School since September 2015, bringing and building upon over ten years’ experience of teaching, mentoring and leadership. During this time, she has also experienced four OFSTED inspections and the implementation process of given next steps. Rebecca is a Core Leader in the Strategic Leadership Team, as well as a successful Year Six Class Teacher, Middle Leader Mentor and SCITT Training Mentor. Rebecca has taught in Year Six during the majority of her career, and this has included mentoring and supporting other Year Six teachers alongside consultants in the borough of Kingston. Through her love of English, she has developed policies that have been shared with other schools, in her drive to accelerate progress in the core areas of learning. The sharing of skills and knowledge has also expanded to previous roles such as Learning and Teacher Mentor, Key Stage Two Leader and leading in English, Maths, EAL and PSHCE.