I have a white German Shepherd who is fourteen months old and apart from my wife, he’s my best friend. He goes everywhere with me. He comes up here first thing in the morning and we unlock together and he comes up here with me at night and we lock up together. We’re in the grounds quite a lot –obviously not when the children are around because he is a working dog. He knows when he comes on site, what he’s here for.

 I open up the school, do general running of the school e.g. making sure water temperatures are right, making sure boilers are working right, making sure the hall is set out for whatever it needs to be set out for during the course of the day.

RL: So it the grounds and the buildings that at the heart of your job?

Mark: Yes, but I also run an after school club on a Wednesday evening which I call Construction Club. The children come along and they basically do Lego, Meccano  and that sort of stuff. I have a list of people itching to come to the club but I’ve had to put a restriction on it because I can only cope with twelve children in it at any one time. They don’t like it when the time comes and we have to stop. It starts at 3.10 as soon as they come out of school and finishes at 3.45.

I enjoy involving myself with many things in the school, not just as a Governor but as a Caretaker as well. I said about the safeguarding and wellbeing of the children, it’s part of my other governing role, so I do try and go on trips if I can. The pantomime last year was fantastic. It’s all to do with escorting the children.    

RL: Do you have children of your own?

Mark: Yes, I have two boys. Lewis is nineteen and Jonathan is twenty three, and a little grandson who is three years old.

RL: How did you come to be a Governor?

Mark: I decided to be a Governor because I wanted to put as much into the school as I can. In your governing role you have a lot of input and you make a lot of decisions,  as to how the school is run and what we spend the money on and so on. Some of the decisions would actually involve me anyway but I wouldn’t be there if I wasn’t a Governor, and so I can bring a practical side to the Governors, say in respect of the building.

RL: When you came here was the school already in special measures?

Mark: Oh yes. When I came here there had not been a caretaker visibly on site and that was easy to see. That didn’t help me because I had nobody to help me and show me the ropes and so I had to rely on the experience I had picked up at the other school and in the security business. I had to come into the school and put my own marker on it. The office manager who was here at the time was very good, but she’s now gone, but she was very helpful and I could go to her.

RL: So what other things do you find yourself doing?

Mark: Well, I took over the running of the pool because they were getting an outside contractor in. I did training for the pool so I run the swimming pool now, getting the chemicals in the pool and making it is safe for the children to swim, and making sure it is shut down when finished with, and decommissioned at the end of the term, and then recommissioned  at the beginning of the term.

There are also things outside. They wanted a shade outside. The PTA run Tuesday coffee mornings, they ran a bazaar, that sort of stuff, all to raise money to build that outside shelter but it can also be used as a classroom, so in the Summer there is enough seating for the children to actually have a lesson out there. Now we’re thinking of having a garden as well, around that area, so that is something we’ve got to go to B&Q about, for there is a budget and we might be able to get some money from B&Q  if we can tell them what we want to do. We have an outside gardener coming in to give us some ideas.

Another project I’m working on at the moment is covering the swimming pool, because if we can cover it in, it means we can use it for more of the year than we do at present. I have someone coming tomorrow to give me some plans for that and then we can get quotes. At the moment we usually open it about April, that’s Easter, and then normally shut it about two weeks into September; it’s Summer term mostly, but it’s a shame because it’s a nice pool and it doesn’t get used enough because, although it is heated it’s cold when you get out.

RL: There seems plenty to do!

Mark: Oh yes, I’m also qualified to test all the electrical appliances in the school on a yearly basis which saves us getting someone in to do it. I’ve done a Healthy and Safety Course while I’ve been here, and ladder training and that sort of stuff.

I get a lot of enjoyment out of being Caretaker. It’s nice to come in and open the building up and know that everything is as it should be and everything is in its place for the children for their day. Then when they’ve had their day I come in again and take over and put it all right for the following morning. I also come back midday as well to put all the tables out and then away after dinner, and sweep up and then do any little jobs that need doing. I’m here for that hour and then I’m at home again until 3.00 and then I finish at 6.00.  

RL: You are obviously an enthusiast.  What is it about this school that makes everyone such an enthusiast?

Mark: I knew when I walked through that door, even though it was in special measures, the right people were in place, and we could turn this school around. You can only do it as a group and give it a hundred per cent., and we’ve proved it. We’ve done it! It’s a brilliant feeling. It’s fantastic and to come on board when it’s not, and to turn it around, as has happened, that’s great. It’s fantastic to be part of that team!  It’s not just a team; it’s like a little family. We support each other and there is that bond.      

RL: Anything else you want to mention?

Mark: Well, we do recycling in the school.   We started doing it with the rubbish people and then Rochford Council approached us and asked, are you interested in doing recycling through us; we will do it free of charge. We started off with three bins and now we’ve got nine bins. We do it for the whole of the site, not just the school. Paper, tins, bottles, plastic, cardboard, anything that can be recycled. I put bins in all the classrooms, and I got stickers from Rochford Council to put on all the recycle bins. All the children recycle; even the nursery children recycle. I obviously have to check it, but I’m so happy the way the recycling goes. When I first came here there were four rubbish bins; I’ve got it down to two rubbish bins and all the recycle bins. They are looking at using schools in this area as an example and I’ve asked them if they’d consider our school as an example.

RL: Well OK, thanks Mark, that’s really excellent. Thanks for giving me so much of your time at a busy time of the day.

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