So what’s it been like, working in a new school? To sum up my feelings, I’ll borrow the motto coined by our head of science in a moment of genius or recklessness: nothing is impossible. This was rammed home on our opening day last month. as one of the local newspaper’s reporters put it: “I’ve covered a lot of school events, but I’ve never seen kids run into school like that.”

Peacehaven community school, East Sussex, is now six weeks old and I’ve made it to half-term with a sense of relief and triumph. We had a hectic start, opening the school in three days instead of the expected two weeks. Vital staff training was squashed into the little available time we had, and the technological fireworks we planned to begin with turned out to be more slow-burning than we had thought. But I can now use my interactive whiteboard to make the literacy framework a bit more interesting, and a couple of weeks ago we told parents about their “gateway”, an online system that allows them access to data about their children’s attendance, behaviour and eating habits. In the words of someone else’s motto, we’re getting there.

The adverts for jobs in Peacehaven’s first secondary school attracted a wonderful group of teachers. The staffroom may not be very full but the ideas that come out of it, and the willingness to try out those ideas, is inspiring. When our head, Fiona Wright, was planning the staffing structure, she was determined to move away from the traditional, hierarchical system towards a “flat” structure. As a result, we have only two “senior managers” but they are supported by a team of highly qualified, experienced, motivated and decently paid “middle managers”. Instead of monitoring large teams, they share the management of a range of issues, from assessment to enrichment.

How refreshing to be given the chance to experiment with a variety of projects rather than being burdened with the curriculum, or feeling guilty because the equal opportunities working party came second to your son’s football night this week. It is a truly collegiate style of management. With no tutor groups, everyone has to take responsibility for what happens in their own classrooms; we are not afraid that we will enter the staffroom to cries of, “Your form group’s a nightmareI ” Each child sees a personal mentor for 15 minutes every other week (with more time available for those who need it). I have discussed progress with Shala, enthused about reading with Jack, learned about Alex’s view of her future and had a good laugh with Christian. In a more traditional structure, I think I’d still be learning names.

The children are all in mixed-ability teaching groups. Class teachers look after all administration normally done in tutor groups. Any difficult issues are passed on to the personal mentors.

Peacehaven still has a lot of growing to do. We have only one year group - 184 Year 7 pupils; their youth and innocence can be charming or frustrating, depending on what kind of day you’re having. Next year will be very different for all of us, with a second year group as well as a large number of staff to induct.

But at the moment we have a great opportunity to use a building designed for 750 students experimentally. For example, with six fully equipped laboratories and only one-and-a-half science teachers, we have struck a deal with the University of Sussex (only a few miles away over the South Downs): its science PGCE students are training in our labs. This is a model of teacher education akin to medical training. Learner teachers are based in an institution with access not only to their dedicated trainers, but also to a range of other professionals in the same field - as well as a clientele from the community they will eventually serve.

Training to be a teacher in a school with teachers, support staff, students and parents on hand to meet, observe and learn from surely offers more than the protected environment of a university education department.

Mike Willson, the science PGCE tutor leading the course, has been arguing for this style of teacher training for six years. “Being based in a school gives teacher training a sense of immediacy,” he says. “When we ask our students to observe some aspect of cognitive development, for example, they can do it immediately.”

It’s also an efficient way of working in these times of teacher shortage. Mr Willson’s team is short of biologists, so is turning to our resident biology specialists to teach bits of the PGCE course. In return, he is teaching some of our Year 7s. This is not the only mutual benefit. The trainees can participate in learning-team meetings (our version of “circle time”) supporting staff and observing students in a less formal environment than the classroom.

Going to lunch in our new food hall seems to underline the unique nature of this set-up: teacher trainees, PGCE staff, school staff and 184 11-year-olds eating together exemplifies the kind of learning community we are aiming for. Mr Willson sees this arrangement lasting for one or two years but, as Peacehaven expands, we hope to build in space for the pilot to become more permanent.

At the moment, the PGCE students have no room to call their own within the school, but there are plans to include a PGCE “annexe” which would provide, for example, a common room. As Mike Willson says: “Although they are moving into a professional environment, our students also need somewhere they can go to sound off - about me, for instance.”

This “hands on, let me see” approach has already become embedded in teacher education as the role of teacher mentors has grown. At the recent Labour Party conference in nearby Brighton, Education Secretary Estelle Morris expressed interest in the project and school standards minister Stephen Timms, who opened Peacehaven in September, has asked to see an evaluation of this new way of working after the first year.

For us staff at the new school, it’s great that the “learning community” we want to create is taking shape and expanding already. Looking around at Year 7 on a day when their youth and innocence are really infectious, I hope they’ll still be running into school on their last day. Well, nothing is impossible.

Jane Branson is head of English at Peacehaven community school in East Sussex, which opened last month. Her previous three diaries were published in Friday magazine on June 8, July 13 and September 21