First 100 days as Principal: Dan MacPherson, Harris Science Academy East London

It’s the start of a new academic year, with many people taking up new roles. Here at the Harris Federation, we've had lots of internal promotions, as well as some brilliant teachers and leaders starting with us in September.

Dan MacPherson joined us as Principal in Easter to lead the transformational journey at Harris Science Academy East London. We sat down with him to discuss his path into leadership, some of his biggest learnings so far, and to reflect on his first 100 days as Principal.

 

 

What inspired you to become a teacher?

I’ve always wanted to be a teacher. I loved school when I was younger and felt that my school did a really good job, and filled me with the confidence and ambition to do whatever I wanted, and to have real impact in the world.

Being a teacher has given me the opportunity to work with, and build up schools so that they provide a similar experience to students who are perhaps less well-served than I was when I was at school.

I trained as a French and German Teacher after studying French and Italian at university. Throughout my teaching career, I’ve taught a whole range of subjects including French, German, Spanish, English. There was a brief time at my previous school where I was also acting as the Head of History so I’ve taught some of that too, and even did a term of Maths!

I’ve always enjoyed getting to grips with content, and finding the best ways to help my class to understand the material. It’s interesting to explore how different subjects approach this. Languages is quite mechanical by putting building blocks together to form meaning, and Maths is similar as it’s very process driven. But subjects like History and English are so different, they're very skills focused, and how to develop students’ critical thinking abilities.

I’ve always been a bit of a teaching nerd in that respect as I really enjoy that challenge of taking a piece of content and teaching it in the best way.

 

Why did you decide to pursue a leadership role?

I’ve been in leadership roles since my second year of teaching. I was lucky in that role that there were so many opportunities for growth outside of my own classroom. I was always really motivated to find ways to spread the impact of what I was doing with my own classes more widely.

I’ve had very interesting roles throughout my career. After my first school, I became Head of Department for a new independent school. That was a very unique experience as that first year we only had 50 students across 2 year groups – Year 9 and Year 12. In a small school, whilst there’s fewer students, they still have all the jobs that need to happen so I got involved in lots of areas. So from that, I learnt so much about how schools operate.

After that, I was keen to prove to myself, and to others, that although I had been working in an independent school, it didn’t mean that I could only hack it in a private school setting. I took a demoted position for a brief time at another Harris academy, which helped me to demonstrate that I could make a difference in a non-fee-paying school too.

Then before coming here, I was at a school in Greenwich which was in a transition period when I joined in 2018. I was in the role of SENCO and safeguarding lead which I hadn’t previously had experience with so that was another brilliant learning opportunity to see how that side of a school worked. I was really motivated by their ambition to build one of the best schools in the country when there was so much stacked against them. And it was amazing to look back as Vice Principal earlier this year and see how far we had come. We’d taken the school from national average to being in the top 25 schools in the country for progress 8, and that’s despite Covid and lockdowns! That experience really fuelled my belief that turning around schools completely against the odds takes great leaders – great leaders can turn schools into really great places. 

That was then my motivation to join Harris; I was looking for a school that would give me something to get my teeth into where I could figure out a vision for where I want the school to be in 5 years’ time. The Federation has the reputation for getting stuff done and trusting Principals to make the right decisions for their schools. There is very little forcefulness to make the schools all the same. I like that the Federation’s approach is to get the best people to make the best decisions for the students in front of them. Harris knows that across over 50 schools, those decisions will look very different because it’s about doing the right thing for your community and your kids.

 

 

Why Harris Science Academy East London?

I had been following the school for a while so I knew that the predecessor school had gone into special measures. I was expecting that one of the big multi-academy trusts would take it over, and I was really excited that Harris did, it felt like a really good fit for the school.

When the job advert came out at Christmas, I called the Talent Team and expressed my interest in the role, and they set me up with an initial call with Sir Dan [Moynihan, Chief Executive], and then soon after that, I had a call with Lisa [Kattenhorn, Executive Principal at Harris Science Academy East London]. I visited the school to see for myself how it was working, and then I made an application, had my interview, and was appointed in late January. 

After the February half term, the Federation had made an agreement with my previous school to essentially “buy me" one day per week so that I could get started straight away before officially starting after Easter. That experience was invaluable; being able to better understand what we were working with and to meet with key staff really helped with the transition into the role, and was especially important for starting at a school like this which is undergoing transformation.

It also gave me some protected thinking space about what the vision was for the school and how we were going to get there. I had a very full understanding of the direction of travel and what we were trying to achieve before getting stuck into the operational challenges of running a school which is currently in special measures. This really helped me to be able to speak with staff, students, and parents with quite a lot of clarity right from the beginning, and provide the reassurance that they needed. 

Starting in Easter was also hugely beneficial, as it’s given me a clean run into September. If I had started in September, I’d have lost the first term just working out where things are at and establishing the plan going forward. So having that extra term has meant we’ve been able to make big changes for September which just wouldn’t have happened otherwise. 

 

Can you tell us about your vision and plan for Harris Science Academy East London?

I know this school could be phenomenal, and my ambition is that we’ll be the top performing school in Newham by 2028, and one of the top performing schools in the country.

For the students, I want them to go to a school that fills them with as much hope, confidence, and self-belief as my school gave me. I want them to leave us and be leaders in whatever they choose to do. We have a science specialism so we absolutely would encourage them to pursue careers in the science and technical industries which we know will be so important in the future. 

We want them to be changemakers, and get into the positions which can generate the most positive change. Newham is one of the poorest boroughs in London, with some of the highest crime rates, and it’s important that school provides the children who live here with a sense of agency that they may be able to have a different life, and make changes for themselves and their community.

If you look at studies on youth mental health, the amount of children who don’t think the world will be a better place than the one they live in now is very depressing; they feel that they will be less safe, less secure, and less happy than they are now, and that’s a travesty. Schools have a great role to play in giving young people the belief and confidence that the world is what you make it and if you see injustice, you can go and solve it. It’s a big goal to have, but one I absolutely think we can achieve. 

 

 

What has been your focus over the last 100 days?

The biggest focus has been on vision, and being really clear on where we’re going. And I’ve been working on alignment as staff reported a lack of clarity previously from senior leaders which had led to frustration and stress. It’s really important to me that this is a school that is going to move quickly, it’s going to be high-performing and that does mean we will have to do things differently.

People spend a lot of time at work, I don’t want people coming here and being unhappy or to feel that leaders haven’t been transparent about what the expectations are. I've also been figuring out what the basis of the school will be when it becomes really successful and how do we ensure a consistent high quality for every lesson. I've been understanding how we can create a school that has super high standards but is underpinned by a sense of warmth and positivity, and ensuring we get that balance right. 

 

How would you describe your experience so far?

Exhilarating! It’s been a really exciting term, so much has been happening and we’ve had lots of change already. It’s been great to see the impact that the change has had on the smooth running of the school.

But the more we’ve changed, the more I can see how much there is still left to do, and at times that can feel a little overwhelming. This was especially the case coming from a school that has been really high performing, to one that is right at the beginning of that journey. There is so much that I want to do but we have to wait for other things to be worked out first, but patience is a virtue!

 

What are you most proud of?

I’m really proud that there’s a strong commitment at the school for positive change, and we’ve achieved some great work whilst pulling people together. I’ve tried to show everyone that leadership is decisive but it’s also about listening and responding to the situation as it happens, and we want their feedback and to be told when things aren’t working. This has helped us as a leadership team to build a trusting relationship with staff, as we know we have expertise and know what we’re talking about, but it doesn’t mean we won’t make mistakes. I’m very aware that I won’t see everything that one of our classroom-based teachers will see so I need them to tell me when there are things that could be improved. 

 

What have been the highlights so far?

There has been so many. The end of term music concert was really lovely. Activities Week was also great, and it was nice to see all the photos of the children enjoying themselves. And some of the emails from parents who are already recognising that the school is taking really swift action to improve, and that our effort isn’t going to waste. 

 

 

What have been the main challenges?

Broadly speaking, it’s been balancing my appetite for change and the reality of the resources we have to bring about that change. It's also been a challenge to acknowledge the limits of what I can do as I am just one person and I can’t do everything, and that sometimes means leaving stuff undone, even though it’s not to the standard I would want it right now. 

 

Do you have any advice for someone who is about to step into Principalship for the first time?

Have a very clear idea about what you want your school to look like. There will be forces that take your attention away from that focus, and it’s important to not lose sight of where you want to be going. 

I have a really good relationship with my Executive Principal and that’s been incredibly helpful. She’s got so much experience and offered me some brilliant advice so definitely invest in those relationships with people more senior than you; you're going to need them, and they will be able to help a lot. 

And finally, have an idea of what you’re going to do, and what you’re not going to do, and try to stick to those principles as much as you can. This is something I need to improve upon as I can tell when I have strayed away from those and started covering other people’s roles, I haven’t been as focused on what I should be doing that will provide the most value. 

 

And finally, what do you want your next 100 days to look like?

We spent a lot of this term deciding what we’re going to do, and I want next term to be less about decisions and more about doing. So I want to focus on secure and solid implementation of the foundations, so implementing what we expect from children’s behaviour, what we expect from lessons, and what we expect for children’s broader development. By Christmas, I'm hoping to see even more positive change for the school!

 

Thank you to Dan for his honest and thoughtful reflections on the past 100 days, and for sharing his insights on Principalship. We look forward to checking in with him later in the year for updates on his progress with leading the transformational journey at Harris Science Academy East London. 

To learn more about working at the academy, and to see current opportunities, visit the Harris Science Academy East London profile page.