Joe joined the teaching team at Ravenbank in September 1977 as a young teacher straight out of college. He started at the Annexe in a 1947 classroom which is now the ‘Scout Hut’ at the top of the rise from Pepper Street near the May Queen Field. There were only four teachers at the Annexe with four classes of Year 5 and 6 pupils and Joe taught alongside Mrs Margaret Hughes, Mrs Belinda Haywood and Mr David Marsden. In July 1979, the Annexe closed and Ravenbank School was now on one site at the top of Pepper Street. Here Joe taught in one of the new mobile classrooms.
Joe left Ravenbank in December 1981 and taught in a number of Cheshire and Stockport schools before his first Headship in the centre of Stockport. He later moved in 2000 to his second Headship at Prospect Vale Primary in Heald Green before arriving at Ravenbank in April 2009 – The only school which would tempt him from leaving his school in Heald Green!
Through accepting his first teaching post at Ravenbank, rather than staying on at college for further qualifications, Joe had to gain his B. Ed (Hons) from Manchester University through a 3 year after school course and his M.Sc in Education Management from Manchester Metropolitan University, again through 3 years part-time studying. Joe also became the only Stockport Head to become a School Improvement Partner (SIP) in 2007 and over the years he has had a number of Primary Education Management articles published.
Joe’s pastimes include jogging (he started Ravenbank School Cross-country team in 1978), cartography, canoeing and a whole range of environmental and sports interests.
