Heads & Tales - Dame Sally Coates
In one of our biggest episodes yet, Henry sits down with Dame Sally Coates, Director of Secondaries at United.
Tell us a bit about your own education
My own education was nothing special. Our family was lower middle class, my father was a salesman. He earned just enough money to send me to an independent Catholic school. My secondary school was just about learning to be a Mum and not expecting you to go to work. We had no careers advice.
I did ok at O-Levels and then I went on to a girl's grammar, which was highly academic, and it was a complete shock to me. I scraped my A-Levels with a few Bs and then I went to teacher training college. Although initially hesitant- I had no intention of being a teacher- I really fell in love with teaching.
I was the first person in my family to go to university. We didn’t come from a family where that was important, there were lots of books in the house, but university wasn’t a priority.
Did that background make you hungrier?
My father died when I was twelve. He'd always been the breadwinner and my Mum then had to go out to work. We had to step up as children and help around the house. I became much more resilient and confident, but my Mum really struggled. That desire to do really well and to lead maybe came from there.
Did you have experiences of mentorship?
I don’t think I've ever been mentored formally I know how important it is! Throughout my career I’ve had lots of people I’ve turned to for advice. Someone to help guide you and support is really important.
You started in Peckham as an English teacher. What was it like?
It was the rule of the jungle. Starting as a teacher in the 1970s was tough. Behaviour was terrible – there were 11 forms of entry at my first school which was enormous. Children weren’t known well by the school and discipline was poor. You had to survive by getting it right in the classroom. There was racism, sexism and fighting in the corridors.
The bottom set got very poor teaching. There was no accountability or league tables. No one knew how schools did.
How big should schools be?
Every child should be known. ‘Schools within schools’ doesn’t work as has been tried in the U.K and U.S. In disadvantaged schools, they should be small. The optimum is 4-6 forms of entry. You want the school to be a tightknit family where you’re valued, loved and nurtured.
How do you create good discipline?
It’s about culture, clarity, consistency and communication. School needs to be a place where students want to be, and children must feel loved. It needs to feel warm.
Kindness is an important value alongside rules which need to be clear, simple and easy to understand. Children should know the consequences of their actions.
I am passionate about details like uniform, and everything must be led by the Head.
You reviewed education in prisons for the government in 2015. What did you learn?
I’d written to Michael Gove because a child in one of my schools had ended up at Feltham. He was bright and had loads of time to revise but they were unable to let him sit GCSEs. He came out without charge in the summer with no GCSEs. The justice system let him down. It made me so angry.
After that, Michael Gove asked me to review education in prisons.
Education is awful in prisons. A lot of people have really suffered and struggled to find learning opportunities.
Scrappy bits of paper, uninspirational classrooms, mixed ability. It’s a tick-box exercise.
My report suggested areas of improvement: it costs us billions in reoffending partly due to lack of education.
That boy who I tried to support, is now in prison for life for attempted murder. I could have stopped that happening.
What is one change you’d really like to make to the current system?
I’d really try to improve alternative provision and stop that pipeline of crime happening.
We are really struggling to employ enough teachers across the UK. We must incentivise people to come into teaching. I’d do everything I possibly could to achieve that.
We also need to put more energy and effort into early years support. We must stop the cycle of disadvantage.
Tell us about one of the great challenges you’ve faced as a head.
When I started at Burlington Danes, I heard that, before I’d arrived, one day every single window had been broken, and there were a LOT of windows.
What I’m good at is persuading people. I’m very direct so I had 25 conversations with people in the first half of that term telling them that this wasn’t the right place for them. I make up my mind about things very quickly.
What are you hoping to achieve next?
I want to get the best ever results for United and ensure great outcomes in my schools.
Personally, I have no idea!