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James Gardiner

I am an educator and community leader with over twenty years experience across schools, university and partnership educational organisations. I have a proven track record of delivering significant whole-school impact, successful colleague development, community leadership and enterprise and would like to bring my skills and experience to Downlands. I am excited to learn about Downland’s commitment to and involvement with the wider community and their drive for equitable services and education. I feel that with my attributes and entrepreneurial approach, I can comfortably meet the job specification for Deputy Head but also hope to build on community links, develop strategic connections with local council and partnership organisations, and generate income for the school.

My passion for inclusive practices and, particularly, support for students with special educational needs was deepened through a Managerial role within the Children’s Disability Service. Here I developed and oversaw the implementation of personalised plans, enabling individuals to flourish in both in-school and extracurricular services. Collaborating with social workers and the safeguarding panels in this role cemented my understanding of the implications of ‘every contact counts’ and the particular importance of cross service communications.

Although I have a breadth of experience as a classroom practitioner, in mainstream and alternative schools, with primary, secondary, young adults and my colleagues, I feel that my most relevant experience for this role is from leading two social enterprises. Both of which had, and continue to have, a significant impact across a number of schools in Brighton and Hove and East Sussex.

When the PE and School Sport initiative was announced by the government, diverting funding away from the SSCO programmes and directly into primary schools, I founded SKiL as a strategic approach to ensure that schools were able to support QTS teachers to deliver Physical Education in Primary Schools. By designing a PE strategy that aligned with cross-curricular planning, I ensured its accessibility to all students, promoting an holistic understanding among children of the interconnectedness of their learning objectives. This ethos ensured that Physical Education was reframed as both a subject and as part of the school’s values, inspiring children to take up more activity as part of a healthy lifestyle. I was also accountable and responsible for managing a remote team of teaching and physical activity staff working across a number of schools in Brighton and East Sussex.

As head of service I managed SKiL to become the only non-education institution in East Sussex and Brighton to support Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) as they undergo their induction year. By partnering with induction managers to develop and deliver a robust NQT induction programme, I enabled NQTs to access high-quality mentoring, professional development, and peer support in partnership with schools and local authorities. This model not only met statutory induction requirements but also fostered a culture of collaborative learning and innovation, empowering NQTs to flourish and make a positive impact from the outset of their careers.

Strategically this role focused upon developing employment opportunities and capacity to tackle the inactivity crisis. This included lobbying various stakeholders to raise awareness of the failings of the current physical education delivery and out of school offer with particular regard to standards, quality of service and equitable provisions. It was during this time that I was involved in the All Party Parliamentary Group for Fit and Healthy Children, advocating for a shift to QTS as standard qualification for PE teaching across school clusters, including Primary. One of the legacies of my work via SKiL is that Downs Junior School are able to consistently secure £250k/annum through the in-sourcing of their wraparound provisions, thus safeguarding their staffing in a challenging financial environment and giving them a reputation as a number one choice for SEND families.

Education, Health & Wellbeing was another social enterprise concerned with education consultancy and implementation. The vision was to ensure that a wellbeing curriculum was available to all pupils. I worked with senior leadership teams and governors to support both in and out-of-school programmes focused upon holistic health & wellbeing. As the Head of service I was directly responsible for ensuring governance and proper propriety of systems related to recruitment & HR, finance, health & safety and compliance with OFSTED standards. Operationally, my role included the successful negotiation of service level agreements with schools, meeting and presenting to staff, senior leaders and governors where necessary. I led on quality assurance of the service, providing leadership support, management and training for school leadership teams, teaching and support staff. I worked with schools to implement evidence-based outcomes for systematically disadvantaged children, ensuring that PPG funding was secured to enable PPG pupils to access a range of enrichment activities, tracking their overall outcomes and sense of belonging based upon their ability to make choices about the wider school curriculum-offer.

A core aspect of my leadership is my commitment to self-reflective practice. I believe that effective leaders continually evaluate their impact and seek opportunities for personal and professional growth. I have modelled this by regularly engaging in professional learning, seeking feedback from peers and stakeholders, and utilising a flexible approach to meet the evolving needs of the school community. By fostering a culture of reflective practice among staff, I have empowered colleagues to become adaptive, research-informed practitioners who are confident in driving improvement. I have designed and delivered whole-school CPD and INSET, supporting colleagues to become reflective practitioners and confident leaders. Recognising the importance of staff wellbeing, I have implemented initiatives such as peer mentoring, wellbeing committees, and workload management strategies. I am proud to say that these resulted in improved staff morale, reduced absence rates, and a culture where staff feel valued and supported.

I am confident in challenging both behaviour and capabilities of team members. I believe that supporting people to develop within their role is crucial and that it is often a lack of agency that becomes a barrier of development. Within my career I have overseen several restructures of service and held to account those who have been unable to change to match the needs presented by the communities they were serving. I have managed NQT’s through their unsuccessful inductions as well as challenging and removing Directors from their roles. These are never easy processes but, with support and clear policy and service directives, challenges can be overcome or staff can be removed with compassion.

My Master’s degree from Sussex University facilitated my work in establishing a Primary PE pathway for PGCE students. This innovative programme supported aspiring teachers to develop their expertise in physical education, combining school-based placements with cutting-edge theory and research-led practice.

I have also partnered with an Academy Director to write an entire through-school vision and curriculum framework in the hope of implementing the first UK Wellbeing school which unfortunately didn’t get beyond the second round of Department of Education consideration. My commitment to leading in a school centered on wellbeing remains unwavering. At Downlands, I see an opportunity to further enhance the existing wellbeing framework, striving to create a center of excellence that prioritizes individual resilience concurrent with academic success. I am eager to champion this ethos throughout Downland’s wider community and help shape an environment where children can fully realize their potential.

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