We are delighted that Michael Moran has officially joined our school. Mr Moran has outlined his vision for the school. You can learn more on our blog.

Our new Headteacher Michael Moran has now been in post for a few weeks and has already started working with our staff team and met many of our families. In this blog, find out more about his background, and his plans for the future at Whitehouse!

Talking about his key values as an educator, Mr Moran said, “I really believe that all children should be given the chance to shine in whatever they’re good at. School should be the place to unlock that potential and nurture it. Through my own experience as the first person in my family to go to university, I believe a good teacher really can change someone’s life.”

“In my first year of teaching, I received a handwritten letter from a pupil’s parents thanking me for the difference I had made when I had been his teacher. They spoke about how he’d grown in my class and was much happier in school, and was doing better at home.”

“It’s pinned on my noticeboard now and I always look at it as a reminder of why I do my job when things get hard at work.”

In the coming year, Mr Moran states that he is “ambitious to create a shared intent and ambition for our curriculum and put plans in place to make it happen”

To achieve his vision, Michael is focused on creating once in a lifetime experiences and purposeful learning that takes pupils out of their comfort zones, showing them what’s out there and what’s possible. “In a year’s time, when someone mentions ‘Whitehouse’ I want the response to be “oh, you’re the school that does everything for the kids!””

Before joining our school, Michael was Headteacher at St Aidan’s Primary School in Ashington, leading them to a successful Ofsted inspection last year, and has been in education for 13 years! However, he has been very impressed with our school and staff in the short time he’s been here already, saying: “Children are well behaved, well-cared for and love being at school. There’s a really calm atmosphere in the classrooms and the staff have fantastic relationships with the families we serve.”

“There’s a lot of wonderful stuff going on at Whitehouse and I want to prioritise sharing it! Keep an eye on our social media feeds to see what’s going on.”

Finally, we asked Mr Moran what he wants parents to know about him beyond his plans for the school: “I really think that I’m a good fit for the school and I’m here to make the school better, improve things for them and the children.

The rest they’ll know already! Sport is really important to me, I manage Newcastle School girls under 11s outside of school, I’m a massive Newcastle fan and I love being involved in anything like this in school. I’d wear a tracksuit to work every day if I could find a reason to!”

“I really do love my job – I love organising things that I know the kids will love and remember forever. Deep down, I’m just a massive 10 year old – it really helps when doing this job.”