| Brian W Sherratt | |
|---|---|
| Known for | Headmaster; Great Barr School |
| Successor | Kate Abbott |
Dr. Brian Sherratt OBE JP FIMgt FRSA was Headmaster (1984–2005) of Great Barr School a secondary school on Aldridge Road in Great Barr, Birmingham, England for children aged 11 to 19. During his time as Headmaster, Great Barr was the largest school in the UK.[1][2]
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He is acclaimed with making Great Barr School one of the best in the country until his formal retirement from the school in August 2005.[3] Under Sherratt’s leadership, Great Barr was noted as a school with very high standards of pupil behaviour and pupil achievement. For these reasons, the school was heavily oversubscribed by parents on first choices. Visiting Great Barr School in November 1999, Sir Chris Woodhead, the then Chief Inspector of Schools, said “You have here an outstanding city comprehensive school – it is one of the most impressive schools I have visited. Great Barr School shows it is possible for a comprehensive school to give a very high quality of education”. He added that “the secret of the school’s success is strong, assertive leadership from the headteacher”.[4][5][6]
Brian Sherratt was awarded the OBE[7] for services to education in the 1995 New Years Honours.[8]
Sherratt was noted for providing his deputy heads with training and professional opportunities to equip them for headship. Among those who, over the years, worked as deputy heads under Brian Sherratt’s leadership are Jenny Hawkins, who became Director of Education for Staffordshire, Carol Whitty, Deputy General Secretary of NAHT, John Martin, Head of Warley High School, Sandwell, Dame Maureen Brennan, Head of Barr Beacon School and formerly Head of Hillcrest School and Community College in Netherton, West Midlands, Ian Fraser, Head of Ashfield School, Nottingham, Glen Goddard, Head of Menzies High School, West Bromwich, Neil Finlay, Head of Walton High School, Stafford, Billy Downie, Head of The Streetly School, Sutton Coldfield, Kate Abbott, formerly Head of The Bluecoat School, Walsall and now Head of Great Barr School.
Before taking up the headship of Great Barr School in 1984, Sherratt was Headmaster and Warden of Kirk Hallam School and Community Centre, (now Kirk Hallam Community Technology College), Ilkeston, Derbyshire. Earlier in his career he had worked in grammar and comprehensive schools and was a lecturer at Avery Hill College, now part of the University of Greenwich.
Apart from running a very large school he demonstrated an active interest in environmental issues and was a director of ENCAMS from 1998 to 2005 and vice-chairman of ENCAMS from 2003 to 2005.[9] In addition he was Chairman of the ENCAMS Devolution Committee (2004–2005).[9] He was also a member of the ENCAMS Resources Committee (2002–2003), Audit Committee (2003–2005) and Trustee of the ENCAMS Pension Fund (1999–2005).[10] From 1997-2001 he was Chairman of the Eco-Schools Advisory Panel and also of the Green Code for Schools Advisory Panel (1998–2005).[9]
In 1999 he received the Queen Mother's Birthday Award for the Environment.[11]
Sherratt was widely respected as a scholar and in 2005 received the BELMAS (British Educational Leadership Management and Administration Society) Award for the Best PhD Thesis of the Year.[9][10] In the same year he also received the George Cadbury Prize in Education from the University of Birmingham.[9][10]
From 1986 - 1990 he was a member of the Court of the University of Birmingham[9] and from 1988 an honorary lecturer in the School of Education. From 2003 to 2005 he was a member of the Education Commission.[12]
In 2003 he was elected a Freeman of the Guild of Educators.[9][10]
Local Education Authorities Project [LEAP 2] (BBC 1988) The Locally Managed School (with Hywell Thomas).[13][14] This BBC training programme was designed to support governors, school heads and senior staff in training associated with the introduction of local management of schools following the implementation of the Education Reform Act 1988.
‘Opting for Freedom: a stronger policy on grant-maintained schools’, Policy Study No 138, Centre for Policy Studies, 1994.[15] This trenchant policy study arguably represents Brian Sherratt at his most influential in shaping the views of policy makers. He argued that, whereas the grant-maintained schools policy offered schools the chance of freedom from LEA control, the government’s own hesitations over the policy were being exploited by members of the interest groups – heads, bureaucrats, and officials – whose present careers and future ambitions depended on the LEA system. The procedure for becoming grant-maintained had been allowed to develop into an obstacle course, while imposed central restrictions (such as the National Curriculum) meant that grant-maintained status in fact offered limited independence. Sherratt argued that government should aim to make all schools grant-maintained (i.e. independent of LEA control) as a matter of general policy, and that it should loosen the constraints placed on grant-maintained schools so as to make diversity and choice in education a reality.
Grant-Maintained Status: considering the options, Longman, 1994.[16] In this book Sherratt examines the nature of the grant-maintained policy and its implementation; the implications of self-government and the benefits of grant-maintained status; the role of the Funding Agency for Schools and the Common Funding Formula. The book also looks at the obstacles that there had been to implementing the policy and suggests some necessary changes to overcome them.
A Structured Approach to School and Staff Development: from theory to practice (1996) – with John Wyatt.[17] This book considers the relationships between school aims and values, whole school review, appraisal, school development planning, value for money in school planning and school evaluation.
Headteacher Appraisal (contrib, Arena, in association with the NAHT, 1997).[18] In this book, Brian Sherratt writes about his experience of being appraised as the head of a large secondary school. He comments on the effect it had on his view of his job, and the impact it made on the school as a whole.
Radical Educational Policies and Secretaries of State (with Peter Ribbins, Cassell 1997).[19] In this book Sherratt and Ribbins argue that the post-war consensus on the purpose of education, and the role played by the Secretary of State in defining it, had all but collapsed. In a series of conversations with Secretaries of State, the nature of the unfolding agenda for educational reform which the Conservative Party had developed since 1979 is explored. The authors present a series of portraits of seven very different people: Mark Carlisle, Keith Joseph, Kenneth Baker, Kenneth Clarke, John MacGregor, John Patten and Gillian Shephard, revealing the ways in which they sought to define and deliver educational change against a backdrop of conflicting messages from within their own party, and in the face of determined opposition from much of the educational establishment. These illuminating, entertaining and provocative conversations suggest that what was once regarded as radical in the Conservative agenda for education is now increasingly taken for granted by allies and opponents alike. Including a thorough analysis of the seven interviews, this book provides a mine of information for all those interested in contemporary politics, the future of education and the workings of government.
Policy, Leadership and Professional Knowledge in Education (contrib, Chapman, BEMAS, 1999).[20]
Journal of Education Policy, The role of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the making of educational policy: Kenneth Baker and the Lawson factor? Volume 19, No 6, November 2004 (with Peter Ribbins).[21] Until this paper, the role of Chancellors of the Exchequer in the making of policy in education has attracted the attention of few researchers, and little has been published that seeks systematically and comprehensively to examine this issue. This is remarkable given that, for most of the last 25 years, this office has been filled by four unusually powerful and long-serving figures. In this paper, Sherratt and Ribbins, drawing on their interview-based studies of the Secretaries of State and of the Permanent Secretaries who have held office at the Department of Education since 1979, consider the influence of Prime Ministers and Chancellors on educational policy over these years. In this context, the bulk of this paper focuses on the role of Nigel Lawson in the making of the 1988 Education Reform Act. In doing so, it draws on face-to-face interviews with Lawson along with other key participants such as Kenneth Baker and David Hancock. It concludes that, although Lawson may not have been, as he had hoped to be, the architect of the Act, he did exercise an important influence in shaping many of its central characteristics. As such, his claim that he was the catalyst of reform may well be justified.
'Managing the Secondary School in the 1990s: A New View of Headship' with Peter Ribbins, Educational Management and Administration..[22] This paper, which has been influential among researchers, talks about ‘a new approach to the study of headship in which they have been involved together; an approach which they describe as a dialectic of biography and autobiography’.
Effective Use of Resources in Pursuit of Leadership Aims (University of Buckingham, 2008). This book deals with: Curriculum organisation and timetabling; Staffing structures; Deployment of resources, including administrative and support staff; Management Information Systems (MIT); Education law as applied to schools; Financial management of schools; Building and accommodation; Health and Safety; Development planning; Delegation; Public relations and marketing. The book is intended as a wade mecum to accompany the head through the unexpected challenges of leadership.
Dr Sherratt's successor as head of Great Barr School is Kate Abbott who also prides herself in promoting the strong values which he established and maintained throughout his time as head. She was Curriculum Deputy at Great Barr before leaving to take up the headship of Bluecoat School, Walsall. She returned as head to Great Barr in September 2005.
Dr Sherratt is a magistrate on the Nottingham Bench (Adult Court and Youth Court) and a Magistrate Training Observer. Since 2005 he has been a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the University of Buckingham. From 2005-2011 he was a director of Nottingham Park Estate Ltd [23] (a company limited by guarantee) and from 2008-2011 its chairman.