“Every single girl will feel cared for, seen as an individual and well prepared for what’s coming next”
Beccy Newton is counting down the days to taking over as Headteacher at The Abbey Junior School after Easter:
“It’s such a wonderful school, the more I get to know about it, the more incredibly excited I am, and I am really ready to get going”.
She brings with her a vast passion for creative curriculum and a strong belief in seeing each student as an individual, who should have a voice and reach their full potential.
Beccy’s passion for innovative, creative and impactful learning is infectious and inspiring. You can hear the conviction in her voice as she says “I want children to adore learning”. Developing an exciting curriculum is at the core of Beccy’s priorities for The Abbey Junior School. What does she want to be held accountable for in five years? “Curriculum”. When you delve deeper into why she’s so passionate about it, you realise what an exciting time lies ahead for students.
“My vision is to have an absolutely outstanding curriculum that goes well above and beyond what other schools are doing and what other people might expect”. She wants The Abbey Junior School to be known for being at the forefront of creative learning. There is a determination in Beccy that leaves you in no doubt that she will achieve this.
This drive for academic excellence is beautifully balanced with a desire to deliver an excellent school experience that nurtures confident, happy, young girls who are being set up with skills for life. Beccy wants students to be “absolutely prepared” for the future.
“They need to be resilient,” she says. “They need to embrace change, and they need to be able to be adaptable.” This includes the transition in their development to the Senior School. Beccy plans to work “seamlessly with the senior school and really help strengthen the connections”.
You can see the joy that being around students brings Beccy – her eyes light up as she watches students walk into the dining room, with a natural openness and a reassuring warm smile as she says hello. Beccy is looking forward to getting to know each of the students and embracing the all-girls environment. She reflects that “I think the spectrum of personalities that can come out when girls don’t have the distraction of boys allows them to be freer. I think they then have more confidence to grow to be themselves and not to conform to stereotypes that shouldn’t exist”.
How does Beccy want to be known as a headteacher? “As really fun, very capable and ambitious, a safe pair of hands. I want to work in a school where children get excellent academic results but they do that as a by-product of an excellent curriculum and excellent school experience”.
Entering her third headship at The Abbey, Beccy’s ‘safe hands’ come from years of experience. She is a mentor to new headteachers and is trained to deliver best practice courses for new heads. Observing Beccy with staff and students, there is a graceful, calm confidence in her interactions and The Abbey Junior School now gets to benefit from her inclusive leadership style.
Beccy has always had a passion for teaching and, as a little girl growing up in Winchester, she used to “put all my teddies and toys out and have a register”. Beccy stayed in Winchester to attend University and gain her teaching qualifications. She really fell in love with the profession at her first placement. At a school in East London she thrived with the scope to “do things differently, it was really forward thinking and outward looking and they were open to trying anything.
That’s where my love of curriculum development started”. Quickly rising in her career with such dynamism and a strong work ethic, she discovered “the joy and happiness I felt from leading and my impact being felt beyond my classroom”. The role of headteacher was a natural fit.
What does Beccy see as the core role of being head? “Being visible and a point of contact for staff, children and parents every day. Being the calm that runs through the school but also a real driver of excitement and passion and ambition, while also making sure that your school doesn’t stand still, that everybody’s got that same drive and your values are really embedded”.
Beccy epitomises the school value of joy and she is a wonderful role model leading an active and adventurous life both in and outside of school. She loves the outdoors, from walking to swimming, windsurfing to netball. She has even been shark cage diving and jumped out of an aeroplane!
Her top priorities – as well as curriculum – are “that our school values are lived out every day and to make sure that every single girl feels valued, cared for, seen as an individual and are well prepared for what’s coming next and that staff have the support, training and the environment they need to be excellent teachers”.
Beccy wants students and their families to know how much she cares and is “going to work incredibly hard to make sure they feel seen as individuals, they feel that their voices have been heard, they feel really proud of their school and achieve their very best”. You cannot help but be struck by Beccy’s drive and impressive record of delivering on ambitious objectives. Combined with her welcoming warmth and love of teaching, The Abbey Junior School is about to embark on an exciting, innovative, new chapter.
