Product Description

This is the heartening account of how Marie Stubbs and her team transformed St George's School - made notorious by the murder of its headteacher Philip Lawrence into a school praised by Ofsted inspectors. Imagine a school where the staff are too fearful to leave the staffroom at breaktime, where stealing and absenteeism are rife, where vicious fights continually break out in the bleak playground, and children wander the corridors chatting on mobile phones. Now imagine a school where children turn up early to have breakfast and play football in a playground furnished with goalposts and attractive plants; where the corridors are empty and classrooms full during lessons, where classical music plays over the intercom and where pupils welcome visitors such as Lenny Henry, Ralph Fiennes and Cherie Blair to give talks. This is the transformation that Marie Stubbs effected at St George's, an inner-city comprehensive in London's Maida Vale. The school had gone into a decline after the murder of its head, Philip Lawrence, outside the school gates in 1995. When Marie Stubbs took over it was threatened with closure after a damning Ofsted report.St George's pupils had been depicted in the press as demons, but within 15 months this 61-year-old grandmother had given them back their self-respect. Attendance rose, examination results improved and in March 2001 the school received a glowing report from Ofsted. Marie Stubbs's approach combines conviction, imagination, old-fashioned discipline and modern management techniques. The heartwarming story of how she and her chosen task force turned round a school that had lost hope is inspiring.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #362963 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Review
'A story of triumph over adversity through determination and hard work' -- Independent 20030401 "A tough-talking Glaswegian who gives pupils and staff the confidence to raise standards." -- Observer 20030427 'With ingenuity and indefatigable energy, Stubbs created the sort of environment many of her students had never encountered before: a place of discipline and self-control, an alternative world!she has the sort of optimism that tends to become a self fulfilling prophecy' -- The Scotsman 20030401 "Enormously cheering! Vivacious and spirited book" -- John Carey, Sunday Times 20030401 "Marie Stubbs ... recognised the need and potential in the pupils, rallied dispirited staff, steamrollered 'petty bureaucracy' and restored self-respect to a school that had died of shame." -- The Times 20031227 'Read this book with horror, sympathy, and laughter' -- The Catholic Herald 20030401

Observer
"A tough-talking Glaswegian who gives pupils and staff the confidence to raise standards."

John Carey, Sunday Times
"Enormously cheering… Vivacious and spirited book"

Customer Reviews

A Head To Admire
Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. I read this book in 2 days, it was impossible to put down. A humourous account of a truly gritty 5 terms at St George's school, and a useful training aid for new and experienced teachers. I spent 4 years at college to get a B.Ed.Hons. degree, and survived for 2 miserable years in a comprehensive school teaching maths. If only Marie Stubbs had been my headmistress, or if only this book had been available then! Lady Stubbs has an obvious vocation for education, and understanding the needs of young people.

inspiring
I am not a teacher, but found this womans ideas just amazing, she tells how children can learn from people actually doing the jobs the children might want in the outside world. Not bogged down by the closed 'teaching profession' an amazing woman, if only there were more teachers especially head teachers like her

Ahead of us all
This is an inspiring book that lets us all appreciate the warmth and sensitivity that can be injected into the sometimes cynical and shallow world of education. Marie Stubbs writes with gentle humour and applicable insight. This book is not just for Heads but any professional interested on how to achieve goals under difficult circumstances. I am just starting on the teaching path, but I know this book is going to see me through those difficult times.
Thanks Mrs. Stubbs!