Steve Brine dropped into Toynbee School in Chandler's Ford today to meet the headteacher making a reputation for himself!
The Prospective MP for the new Winchester & Chandler’s Ford constituency visited the school in Bodycoats Road to chat with staff, pupils and meet with the head, Matthew Longden.
Steve says; “The Headteacher of any school is vital to its success – and few places is that more true than at The Toynbee School in Chandler’s Ford. Matthew Longden arrived from Applemore College in Dibden Purlieu in January – within no time at all he had the Ofsted inspectors crawling all over the school. He needn’t have worried; an upbeat assessment soon graded the school as “satisfactory” with “good” features.
“I got the sense from Mr Longden that he was not going to be satisfied with “satisfactory”; this is a school that is going places under new management. I found the whole team friendly and welcoming beyond the call of duty for a visiting Prospective MP and was made to feel very welcome indeed."
Matthew Longden himself says; “The school has been through a period of real change, but has got massive potential. People looking at Toynbee now can see a school that is going places.”
See Steve Brine's special report on Toynbee in the Winter 09 edition of The Chandler's Ford Post (see page two) via our Newsletter Download section.
Pictured: Head girl Louise Mabley with Matthew Longden, Steve Brine and Head boy Harrison Jones at Toynbee. Louise and Harrison gave Steve a full tour of the school during his visit at the start of October 2009.