According to Tegwen Ellis (left), children enter school as an empty box. It is up to teachers to fill that “box” with knowledge and aspirations - be it music, art, science or drama.
As one of 11 new Assembly government-appointed pedagogy champions, Mrs Ellis now has an added role outside the 300-pupil Ysgol Cynwyd Sant in Maesteg.
“Nothing has yet been decided about how we operate but we have flexibility to fulfil our remit as we think fit, said the 42-year-old primary head.
“There is so much good practice which is not being shared at the moment. We need to find a way to do that.”
Mrs Ellis sees herself helping the government make new policy initiatives work in the classroom. The Welsh-medium school’s latest inspection report from Estyn in June 2005 showed it was “making great strides towards the Foundation Phase”. It was praised for being a high-performing school with well-behaved pupils.
Mrs Ellis has been at Cynwyd Sant since 1991. She took over as head in 1999, the year it received a Basic Skills Quality Mark.
