Maureen Brennan
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| Dame Maureen Brennan DBE | |
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Dame Maureen Brennan, DBE, known familiarly as "Mo Brennan", is the headteacher at Barr Beacon Language College in Walsall, West Midlands. She took over leadership of this school in Easter 2007 after spending several years as the Principal of Hillcrest School and Community College in Netherton, West Midlands. Before this time she spent a significant time at Great Barr School in Great Barr, Birmingham as a senior member of staff under Dr. Brian Sherratt O.B.E.
She lets it be known that Hillcrest School had "no structures, systems or routines" when she took over in September 2002. In 2002 the school came out of special measures. By the beginning of 2003, Ofsted inspectors described it as "one of the most outstanding schools in the country".
One of her recipes for changing that was the introduction of a "house system and a prefectorial system". She introduced formal routines such as pupils standing up when someone walks into the classroom; she also got rid of the bells that sounded the end of each lesson. Other measures included a sin bin or exclusion room (dubbed the "doom room" by the pupils) where misbehaving pupils could go for a period of isolation from their peers.
Dame Brennan said "the Hillcrest way" included a "two-way respect agenda". If the school expected respect from the students, it had to return that respect. So teachers will sometimes hold open doors for pupils and be polite to them. All areas of the school are of a standard an adult could expect in the workplace.
Dame Brennan is a great believer in the importance of the quality of the buildings. The old school had "rat-run corridors" and she knows "we can do better with better buildings".
Clearly all this takes great energy and drive from staff. They "do the gates", patrolling as pupils arrive and leave. They remove mobile phones. They faced a drug-dealing problem outside the school. So they recorded the numbers of the cars and informed the police and the problem was reduced. They discovered a drug dealing ring which operated by pupils using coloured ties and sending signals. Pupils were awarded house points for detecting other pupils breaking school rules.
Maureen Brennan was knighted for her services to education in 2005 and is now styled as Dame Maureen Brennan.
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[edit] Problems ahead
On Wednesday 12 December 2007 it was reported that Dame Brennan and her recent senior management team was under investigation for fraudulent reporting of attendance figures during the time that she was Head.[1]
Dudley Council's investigations have now ended and the case has been passed to the West Midlands police Economic Crime Team. Maureen Brennan was identified in the Dudley report for leading a team of senior managers who EWS investigators claim manipulated registers to make the school look more successful than it was. In their interim report, EWS (Educational Welfare Service )officers allege the records created a false impression of improved attendance which promoted the school's image and resulted in higher pupil numbers.
It is believed none of Dame Mo's senior management team remained at the school after she left last year.Cops study fraud claim
[edit] Success
On 29 November 2007, Ofsted inspected the school and its progress since Dame Brennan taking over only 6 months ago, the school was described as "a huge improvement" and "pupils effectively contribute to the school" [1]
Dame Maureen Brennan has successfully taken the school out of the "need to improve" category, this is great news for Barr Beacon and a special letter was sent to parents praising students.
[edit] References
- ^ "Dame Named in Fraud Probe", Dudley News, 12 December 2007.
Stourbridge News Cops study fraud claim
