Clare Watson
“Before pupils have their first lesson at Lees Brook Academy, they go to university.”
Clare Watson’s passion for raising students’ aspirations at Lees Brook Academy is clear from this one statement.
As the new principal of the Morley Road school in Chaddesden, she wanted all Year 7 pupils to visit the University of Derby before they started their term at the school in September.
“I wanted them to see what their educational journey could be. It isn’t just about university, it is about encouraging them to have high aspirations,” said Clare, who became principal in July this year. She made sure pupils got to experience a lecture and tour of the campus.
“As teachers we are not here to quash dreams, we are here to develop them,” she said. “It’s why, if a pupil tells me they want to be a hairdresser, for example, I tell them that’s fantastic, and ask if they’ve thought about doing business alongside it to help them set up their own hair salon or brand of hair products once they’re qualified.”
The school has received significant investment since joining the Archway Learning Trust in February last year, helping it to develop those dreams. In its Sixth Form Centre it boasts a fully functioning hair salon and beauty studio for students doing their Post 16 qualifications. A construction barn on the Post 16 site also allows for bricklaying courses while a fully equipped industrial kitchen provides everything needed for catering courses.
Clare joined Lees Brook as principal from Alvaston Moor Academy where she was vice principal following 21 years working in a secondary school in Nottingham City.
Clare is very clear that as an academy, we have very high expectations and high standards of everyone, the pupils, the staff and all stakeholders and we are unwavering in these standards because that is what drives the culture of improvement forward.
For Clare, improving academic outcomes is just one element to education. Raising aspirations and developing cultural capital are huge parts of what motivates her.
Coming from a small mining town in Nottinghamshire, Clare was the first in her family to go to University and said music helped her reach her dreams.
She has played in brass bands all her life, studied music and theatre at university in Liverpool and followed her dream to become a music teacher, quickly rising through senior leadership roles thanks to her drive, determination and passion for ensuring all children receive the best education.
“My belief is that academic results are very important but they are not the only thing that’s important,” said Clare. “Children come to school to develop for the rest of their life, to become well rounded, world citizens. Academic results are a key part of that, but they are not the only part. It is about developing their cultural capital, their confidence, their life skills, their enjoyment, their motivation, their social skills. We prepare all our children holistically for their future pathways.”
Another way Clare is developing cultural capital is by ensuring every child has careers and employability opportunities from years 7-13 and offering a free school trip to every pupil.
This started at the end of the last academic year when the school paid for Year 7 pupils to got to the Peak District, Year 8 to Twycross Zoo, Year 9 to Scarborough and Year 10 to London.
“During lockdown pupils really couldn’t experience wider opportunities like school trips and last year schools were focusing on a recovery curriculum but I really felt it was important that pupils were experiencing things outside the classroom and so the school paid for every single child to go on a school trip. It was important to us that it was free for pupils because no child should have a barrier to their learning.
“The feedback we had from pupils and parents was amazing and it is something this school will do every year.
“My moral compass is very firmly focused on the fact that everything we do is for the development of our children and their futures. If it is not good enough for your children, it is not good enough for the children of Lees Brook.”
