Oak’s new principal sets out ‘long-term’ plans for town’s secondary school

A NEW principal was welcomed to Melksham Oak Community School in September and he plans to focus on improving students’ behaviour, whilst helping them become ‘articulate and polite’ adults. 

Haris Hussain has taught in schools internationally as well as in the United Kingdom and has a wealth of school leadership experience. 

Talking exclusively to Melksham News, he said, “It’s a privilege to lead the school. In my letter to parents, I’ve said to them that if we imagine a quote from a mythical parent a year from now, I’d want them to say that Melksham Oak is the school for Melksham, it’s a school that has given their child confidence, they are able to be articulate, they’re polite.” 

The new head was part of a working group of principals shaping new behavioural policies for schools in the White Horse Federation of which Melksham Oak is part of. 

“You don’t just want the academic success, you want them to be able to hold a conversation with an adult without being afraid, you want them to be able to resolve conflict; the soft skills that no-one teaches any more,” he said. 

“On the walls of our school we have the three values; respect, ambition and pride. You will never hear me raise my voice in school; I made that promise to the students at the beginning. If I don’t model how I want our students to be, if I don’t give my staff the confidence to interact with young people the way that we interact with each other, we then end up living in this zombie world where the kids ignore us, we kind of ignore them, then suddenly we meet in the classroom. That’s where many schools have drifted to since the pandemic. What we need to do is re-connect with students.”  

With plans to lead the school to academic success, he continued, “I believe that we have so much to gain from being part of a family of schools, the White Horse Federation, rather than being a stand-alone academy. We want Melksham Oak to be in the top group of schools in the country. That’s our aim, there’s no reason, no rationale that I can point to as to why we can’t achieve that.  It will take time, effort, blood, sweat and tears and all those things but so be it. There’s no reason we can’t achieve that.”  

He explained that being principal of Melksham Oak Community School is a long-term commitment for him and as part of his plans, he also wants to improve communication with parents.  “We don’t get communication perfect, it’s always a work in progress and we ask parents to reach out to us if they have any queries,” he said. “Parents came in for an open evening recently and could raise any concerns. There’s been a parents’ survey that’s gone out that will help the senior team plan ways to develop communication with the parents in the second half of the term. I’ve got a podcast for parents to talk through some of these things. 

“Just like them, we are human, we are trying to move things forward and that’s what I want to put across to the community.”