Headteacher is a good sport (From Your Local Guardian)

Headteacher is a good sport

7:48pm Monday 18th June 2007 in

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After weeks of nominations for women, it is time to feature the first male nominee for Kingston's Best Headteacher: Ian Jones from Ellingham Primary School in Chessington.

He was nominated by Mrs Arnold from Chessington who said: "He takes great interest in all pupils and always encourages them to achieve the best by making them believe they can do it. I think he deserves to be recognised for their ongoing efforts for all the pupils."

Mr Jones, 58, has been headteacher at Ellingham for a remarkable 23 years. He said: "My plan was only to stay for three or four years before moving on but I loved it so much because the atmosphere here is so special."

After training to be a teacher in Winchester in his early twenties, Mr Jones began his career in education with a job as a PE teacher. "I had always wanted to be a teacher," he said. "I never thought of anything else. The thing is, though, that I loved sport so much that I decided to become a sports teacher."

“He takes great interest in all pupils and always encourages them to achieve the best by making them believe they can do it. I think he deserves to be recognised for their ongoing efforts for all the pupils.”

Mrs Arnold

However, he soon decided to switch the playing fields for the classroom to gain more teaching experience and moved to Merton to teach nine to 13 year olds at a middle school.

He said: "I worked there for a while and then was offered the deputy headship at Morden Manor School. I just love teaching at primary level - I enjoy the keenness of the children and the fact that they want to learn."

Although Mr Jones spends much of his time at Ellingham dealing with the copious paperwork that comes with a headship, he still finds time to do some teaching himself. He said: "I teach PE and run the soccer club and golf club. It's a real highlight, watching the children pick up golf. We even teach the young ones at the school with special golf equipment."

• To vote for Ian click here to nominate your favorite headteacher click here.