EXTRA TUITION WITH MR. POVEY

Educating Greater Manchester has been a wonderful documentary on Channel 4 & Channel 4 HD.

I had the absolute pleasure in speaking with  Mr. Drew Povey - Harrop Fold School's headmaster -   about all things Educating Greater Manchester.

Here's what we spoke about.

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Andy Gibson: 
How did Harrop Fold School get selected for Channel 4's Educating series?

Drew Povey:     
They just liked the positive culture in school and the never give up attitude of Team Harrop!

Andy:     
Were you at all hesitant in your decision to have Harrop Fold School featured on the doumentarty?

Drew:     
We took our time and explored it in detail. In the end the students and staff voted on the evidence we presented and it was around 90% in favour. I wouldn't give my opinion until after the vote!

Andy: 
What was your opinion before and after the vote?

Drew:
I saw the positives in doing the show, but really wanted to make sure that staff were interested in doing it.    Without the staff and students it just wouldn’t have worked.

Andy: 
How has your students and staff adjusted to the cameras being there?

Drew:   
At first it was very strange.    Being Mic’d up in the car park was odd... then the cameras were very different too.    However, like most things, it got very old, very quickly!

Andy:
Did you notice a change of behaviour in people since the cameras were introduced?

Drew:
For this first 48 hours it was a little surreal having all these cameras in!  However, like most things it ‘old, quickly’ and behaviours returned to normal…of both staff and students.

Andy:
Are there any good and bad points of having Harrop Fold featured on Channel 4?

Drew:
The good points significantly outweigh the bad, by a long way.    Showing the positives of the school from students to staff is incredible and has brought a real sense of pride to Team Harrop.    I really can’t think of any negatives, other than it takes time... but it’s well worth it!

Andy:
You and your brothers have done wonders for Harrop Fold, how have you managed to turn the school around from potentially being closed and can you offer any advice for other head teachers/teaching staff who may be in a similar situation?

Drew:
The biggest piece of advice I would give is to make sure you get people on board!    No one does anything brilliant alone... hence Team Harrop!    We labelled the culture this way, because to survive it needed everyone to pull together and that means the kids too - as there are more of them than there are of us staff!!!

Andy:
Speaking of brothers, is there any sibling rivalry between you at work?

Drew:
As Brothers we get on so well.    The banter is high, but the competition is low...  in fact non existent! 

Andy:
As there are only 8 episodes, will there be another Educating series featuring your school on Channel 4?

Drew:
Who knows what the future holds, but whatever we do, it’ll come down to a student and staff decision again!