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Oxbridge trainee, 29, is youngest academy head
Tim Ross, Education Correspondent10 Oct 2008
An Oxford graduate with only three years' classroom experience has become the youngest headteacher hired to run an academy.
Max Haimendorf, 29, received six weeks' teacher training before being plunged into a classroom to learn on the job under a government scheme.
He will take charge of the new King Solomon Academy in Marylebone, sponsored by education charity Absolute Return for Kids (Ark), when it opens next year.
Mr Haimendorf's appointment marks a startling development for two key government initiatives for raising standards in London schools.
In 2003, he was one of the first to enrol for the Teach First scheme, which takes high-flying graduates from Oxford and Cambridge and sends them to work in some of the country's toughest schools with minimal training.
The programme has been hailed as a great success by independent inspectors and has won support from politicians of all persuasions. But for a Teach First trainee in his twenties to take charge of a new secondary academy represents a big step.
Academies have run into opposition from Left-wing MPs and teachers' unions, who distrust the involvement of the private sponsors who run the semi-independent schools.
Critics of academies said Mr Haimendorf was too inexperienced to take on such a demanding role.
He suggested that a fresh approach would be an asset.
“I think parents care more about what I'm saying than how old I am,” he told the Times Educational Supplement.
“What matters is what I can deliver for pupils day to day.
“If you want to do something very different, which is what we hope to do, then it may be best to have someone who hasn't already been the head of a large comprehensive and got used to that model.”
The National Union of Teachers warned that the Teach First scheme was no preparation for the role of headteacher.
NUT acting general secretary Christine Blower said: “The key role of a headteacher is to lead the teaching and learning of the institution.
“This requires considerably more experience in the classroom than could be gained by doing Teach First.”
But Ark, the charity founded by financier Arpad Busson, was impressed by Mr Haimendorf's background. He attended St Paul's independent school in Barnes and Oxford University but also has one year's experience working for a management consultancy.
King Solomon Academy will eventually join the new breed of “all-through” academies for pupils aged from three to 18, split into three smaller schools.
Mr Haimendorf will be headteacher of the secondary school section, overseeing its growth from an initial group of 60 Year 7 pupils and three teachers.
He is a firm supporter of the small schools approach adopted by Ark academies. He has warned that pupils in large urban secondaries can fall “under the radar” as teachers struggle to keep order.
Reader views (1)
Serious concerns re those behind the Academy Schools agenda should be available for everyone:
http://www.lifeinthemix.org.uk/ark_academies_school.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBxQpft5F_k
ARK has also employed Schillings to effect a gag of information being made available with respect to ARK's connections. However, they have been reluctant so far to clear their name in court:
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Talk:Schillings_legal_threat_re_Arpad_Busson,_EIM_Group_and_ARK_Schools_to_911forum.org.uk_hoster,_16_Dec_2008
- Caz, London, UK, 16/04/2009 14:37
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