School head hailed by Brown after leading transformation

Published on Wednesday 24 March 2010 08:53

A HEADTEACHER responsible for one of the most dramatic transformations ever seen by inspectors in a Scottish school has been honoured by Gordon Brown.

Donald Macdonald is credited with turning around the fortunes of Liberton High since taking up his post almost five years ago. Back then just seven students went on to university and school inspectors damned pupils' overall attainment as "unsatisfactory".

Now that number has been raised to 52 and the same inspectors have praised the outstanding educational improvement at Liberton.

Mr Macdonald took a tough line on bullying and discipline by excluding badly-behaved pupils who refused to change their ways.

He also brought back uniform in an effort to give pupils more pride in their school and help improve behaviour.

Inspectors at HMIE said the changes have resulted in the biggest improvement they have witnessed in a Scottish school.

On Monday, Mr Macdonald was among 40 "outstanding" school leaders from across the UK who met Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah at Downing Street to recognise their work.

He said: "I was quite surprised when I received the news that I had been invited to No 10 Downing Street and I have to say that I was really delighted with the invite.

"HMIE, in last year's visit, commented very positively on the progress being made by the school.

"It was said that Liberton High School over a two-year period had made the biggest improvement they had seen in any such school in Scotland.

"It's great to receive praise for the hard work and effort the pupils and teachers have put into the school.

"As a headteacher, I am aware that any praise directed at me must be for the collective efforts of our entire school community.

"I think for us as a school, this is just the beginning of a journey – and it's our aim to be the best."

Nigel Griffiths, MP for South Edinburgh, who nominated Mr Macdonald for the Downing Street visit, said: "He has really transformed Liberton High School from a reasonably performing school to an outstanding educational environment where every pupil counts and where poverty is not an excuse for failure.

"The number of students going to university when he took over was just seven and now it's 52.

"He has brought in school uniform to give people a sense of pride.

"His philosophy is whatever walk you are from in life, you have an appropriate dress code and the school environment is no different.

"He has tackled discipline and bullying issues.

"Gordon Brown asked to meet outstanding headteachers and Donald is one of them."