Tony Cook

I have been a primary school teacher in Southampton schools for 32 years. I took early retirement in 2004 and have continued to work part time in education supporting Year 6 children in SATs Booster groups.

My role in Gatehouse is sourcing course venues and producing course information mailing to schools.

I have a variety of interests, these being music, gardening, keep fit, reading, cooking and tortoises. I do enjoy walking in Cornwall where my husband and I spend a great deal of our spare time.

I worked as a class teacher throughout the 70s and 80s teaching the full range 5-12.

I became a headteacher of a Buckinghamshire Nursery and First School in 1986, moving five years later to a second headship in Berkshire; later to become Windsor & Maidenhead Unitary Authority.

Whilst planting my roots firmly in the bed of pedagogy and the need to develop children’s social and emotional skills initially within their own community and family, it has always been important to me to set my own personal and professional development and that of my colleagues and pupils in the context of the wider world.

I always have found satisfaction and inspiration from working in partnership with colleagues and organisations who could offer ideas and solutions to further enhance my thinking, and I have always been excited to explore new ways of doing things that would also support children’s learning, development and understanding.

ICT became a perfect vehicle for much the above. From the earliest introduction of the BBC and RM machines into my classroom, and the magical transformation of my reluctant learners into motivated enthusiastic participants, I have been committed to embedding ICT into all aspects of school life.

Designation of the school as a ‘Beacon School’ in the late 90s allowed us to reach out to partner schools; giving and receiving wisdom in equal measure. From starting out as a Beacon School offering a varied menu of support, we soon realised that ICT was the area of greatest demand and eventually it became our sole focus.

Later the school became a host for the SLICT programme and I became a SLICT facilitator and started to work closely with Becta. As Distributed Leadership has also long been central to my philosophy, I was able to support the development of my senior colleagues to the level where they were able to work with the Local Authority advisers on NOF, and ‘Hands on Learning’, and with Advanced Skills and Leading Teacher programmes, not exclusively, but largely in the area of ICT, one also becoming an accredited ICT Mark Assessor.
I have worked with a teacher training university in the USA to introduce and develop the use of Interactive Whiteboards.

As a counterbalance to the hectic life I had at school, my interests outside lean towards the calmer side; reading, gardening and yoga have all helped me unwind; I enjoy all types of theatre and music and I try to assimilate as much incidental knowledge as I can to one day win the top prize on ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’....the glass bowl on Mastermind just isn’t motivating enough!

I've been in the teaching profession for nearly 10 years now, and have taught throughout the Primary age range. This has included 3 years in the independent sector, 2 years supply teaching and 5 years in state schools.

I am presently teaching in Year 6 at Mount Street Primary School in Plymouth. I have a passion for learning and supporting children in becoming learners who have a zest for discovery. I aim to make all learning meaningful, with the children taking the driving seat and responsibility for their own learning. Teaching in both the independent and
state sectors has given me an insight into the needs of a wider variety of children, but the skills of learning never change. If a child understands how to learn, then the world is their oyster! Recently, this has widened to
include BEd students at the local University. I relish the opportunity to enthuse these students and inspire them to provide an outstanding quality of education which is what every child is entitled to.

I have recently become the assistant Headteacher at Mount Street which is an extremely exciting prospect for me. I am now going to be able to make a wider difference to children's lives, whilst also gaining a more strategic
view of the education which we provide at Mount Street.

I became the ICT coordinator 5 years ago, where my first role was to complete the application for the NAACE mark. We applied just as the NAACE Mark was being assimilated into the ICT Mark and this was when I first met Anthony and Gale. We have recently been successful in reapplying for the ICT Mark through the streamlined process which is a much more efficient process.

However, the process of revisiting the SEF has allowed us to build on previous good practice and raise our heads to achieve practice which is aspirational in many areas. Anthony and Gale have fully supported me throughout my role as ICT Coordinator and we have become great
friends. Earlier this year, I organised and hosted an ICT Mark Awareness session for the schools in Plymouth, where Anthony and Gale set out the application process for the Mark and the way in which Gatehouse could support schools in this area. This was well attended and Gatehouse involvement in Plymouth has been fully supported by Plymouth City Council. I have now joined the Gatehouse team to support schools in Plymouth and
the local area as an Associate support consultant and am excited about the prospect of supporting other educators in ensuring quality ICT provision in Plymouth.

Away from teaching, I have been married to a chef for 10 years and have a young family of 2 boys, aged 8 and 3, who keep me extremely busy.

I have been a Principal IT Consultant for over 25 years, working for some of the world’s leading software and services companies including Microsoft and Oracle, I now work as an independent consultant using my commercial experience to help educational establishments get the most out of their ICT investments.

I believe that ICT should be an enabler and not a barrier to learning.

ICT is only of use if it allows educators and pupils to be more efficient and get access to the right information.
As a chair of Governors for over 12 years I have seen how schools can benefit from well implemented, connected systems. I have personally assisted in the design and installation of the equipment and network for an Infant school which achieved the ICT mark and was a Beacon school for ICT. I have great experience of Virtual Learning Environments and implementation of networked technology into the classroom.

I am particularly passionate about the need for better awareness of Internet Safety.

Trained to Ambassador level by CEOPs (Child Exploitation and Online Protection), I am actively involved with the teaching and training of Internet Safety. As a father of two teenage daughters I am well aware of benefits, and pitfalls, the internet can bring.

Away from ICT, I am an ardent football fan and am a Chelsea season ticket holder. After watching them for over 30 years, I think I am owed the last few seasons of success!