Primary head retires on a high note

The head teacher of Robert Blair Primary School in Islington will retire in July with the news that his school has now been judged as “good” in all areas by Ofsted inspectors.

Mr Mark Miller, who has been head for 12 years, will be succeeded by Ms Michelle Bahn, who is currently Deputy Head at another Islington school - Hargrave Park Primary in Archway.

The latest Ofsted inspection took place over two days at the beginning of June. In their report, the inspectors praised Mr Miller, stating: “The head teacher, working closely with his senior colleagues and governing body, has improved the quality of teaching since the previous inspection so that it is consistently good. As a result, pupils currently in the school make good progress and achieve well.”

The school was judged to be “good” across all four key areas covered by the inspection: quality of teaching; leadership and management; behaviour and safety of pupils; and achievement of pupils. This compares to a rating of “requires improvement” which was given in the four key areas following the last inspection which took place in 2013.

Mr Miller departs as the project to raise £10,000 to install solar panels on the school roof moves into its closing stages with a final fundraising push taking place on Wednesday 15 July.

Robert Blair was one of only 15 schools across Britain to gain a place on the Solar Schools scheme this year, after more than 260 registered their interest. The school has been working with the local community to fundraise for the panels - £8,457 of the £10,000 target has been raised. The final fundraising event of this academic year will be a clothes swap on Wednesday 15 July 6pm-8pm. See www.solarschools.org.uk/robertblair/blog/ for details.

Mr Miller said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my 12 years at Robert Blair and want to thank the whole school community for their support and hard work. I pass on the baton knowing that the school is in great shape to move to the next stage of its development. I wish the new head and the whole community the best of luck.”