On July 29th 2024, the unthinkable happened to my client and her community
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In 2023, David Clayton, now Endeavour Learning Trust CEO, introduced me to work with a remarkable headteacher he had just met, Jinnie Payne.
In the eight months that followed through our leadership development work together, I realised that Jinnie was one of those leaders for whom hope is both a value and a strength. What did this mean? Well it meant that no matter what Jinnie faced, she had the inner resource to lean towards a deep belief in herself to get through anything and to find pathways to do so, as well as to do the same for others. And she was determined to grow this within her. Through our coaching work together we harnessed and developed her values and strengths, her perspective and way of thinking, and took a further focus on this value and strength of hope so it grew and sharpened as part of her leadership toolkit, among other values and strengths.
That hope was to become incredibly important last summer on July 29th when an innocent dance class - full of bright young girls and staff from primary schools, including Jinne’s school Churchtown in Southport, turned into a fateful horror scene. As part of the sad events, Churchtown Primary lost a beautiful girl called Alice Da Silva Aguiar a Year 4 pupil, whose own values eschewed kindness and curiosity among them and Bebe King who had previously attended the school.
How do you respond when the worst happens?
All of the school community were left devastated for their friends and families whose lives were suddenly permanently altered, and felt at a loss of how to put one foot in front of the other. Riots also followed the attacks which further exasperated the community’s pain. Jinnie - with the hopeful guidance of Alice’s parents - Alex and Sergio, who have been a shining light of courage - used bravery, determination, and her all important value and strength of Hope to support and guide the school community forward. She created pathways forward from the tragedy to find a way for the community to honour the memory of Alice, Bebe and all of those affected. As a bystander of this, it was humbling and remarkable to watch. So too was the behaviour of the leaders in the Trust David Clayton, Tracey Greenough, Neelam Yousaf, Gareth Caunce and in the school including Greg Miller, the deputy head who stood side by side with Jinnie throughout. There are many, many more - too many to mention here.
Jinnie’s actions of hope included:
Driving straight to the school when the incident happened to safeguard everyone there
Opening the school to the community to share shock and grieve
Finding and getting the right resources of support
Regular communications to staff and the community
Providing direct liaison and support to all families directly affected from day 1
Having a church ceremony of reflection on the first day back to school for staff
Connecting to education leaders who had experienced tragedy to learn from them
We were also honoured at CLPL to support the school staff with their recovery and wellbeing when they returned to school in September 2024 after the incident. Jinnie invited us to share our expertise on developing recovery and wellbeing after tragedy, following the support we had provided to the school affected by the Grenfell tragedy, Kensington Aldridge Academy. In doing so, Jinnie created a pathway of hope, offering staff an opportunity to reflect on their own wellbeing needs and find the steps forward from the darkest of experiences by prioritising their health - a cornerstone of Positive Leadership.
Now, along with Alice’s Father, Sergio, and many other school community members and supporters, Jinnie will be running the London marathon to inspire and offer further hope to the community and a bid to raise money for a memorial playground. I am honoured to be running alongside the team in my first marathon - having not run very far at all previously! Please watch the clip from BBC News below to hear how important this community project is.