Sir Iain rules with a firm hand of respect...

Principal Sir Iain Hall with pupils at Oasis Academy.

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SIR Iain Hall makes a point of shaking hands with pupils — as long as they look smart and have been good.

“It’s the simple things in life”, explained the interim principal of Oasis Academy Oldham.

“Children are sheepish about shaking hands but when the time comes to go for an interview, they are going to have to.

“I make a point of looking them in the eye when I speak to them and shaking hands.”

Sir Iain has not had time to sort out an office, saying his job is to be out in the corridors, since his admittedly sudden appointment on July 4.

But he is already making his mark on standards and said: “We have got the uniform sorted out and the next step was a focus on mobile phones.

“It’s not rocket science; there’s too many mobile phones in class. Pupils were texting in lessons. That had to go.”

As a grandfather, he understands parents’ concerns about safety and pupils can take their mobiles to and from school. As soon as they are through the gates they must be switched off at all times and in their bags. This includes break and lunchtime which Sir Iain conceded pupils were not happy about at first.

But he is determined to raise standards and believes that one of the biggest hurdles is improving self-esteem.

He was a strategic adviser for the academy, which replaced South Chadderton and Kaskenmoor Schools in September, before previous principal John Alder stepped down.

“Being on the academy council, I started to meet quite a lot of the children. They are all very nice children,” said Sir Iain, who was knighted for services to education in 2002.

“One of the things I had started to look at was the performance of the predecessor schools. It concerned me a little with one getting 26 per cent five A to and the other 44 per cent.”

This meant that 74 and 66 per cent of pupils were not achieving the Government benchmark of at least five good GCSE grades, including English and maths.

“There is no one size fits all but there’s a key number of building blocks you needs to use,” explained Sir Iain.

“The biggest challenge in any schools like these is the lack of self-esteem and the lack of self-belief. Pupils live in an area where there’s massive unemployment, it has become a way of life. We have to raise their heads above that.”

The former inner-city child from Liverpool remembers four teachers who made him believe in himself.

Inspired by them to become a teacher, he said: “My first job was in a grammar school and that taught me a lot. It taught me the standards children could reach.”

Unable to see why others cannot not reach these same standards he continues: “I have fought all my life for children who were underachieving.”

A 39-year teaching career included 23 years as a head teacher and he was at the helm of an inner-city Liverpool school before transforming Parrs Wood High School, Didsbury.

He trained aspiring head teachers under the National Professional Qualification for Headship scheme and is an an executive adviser with Future Leaders, which uses inspirational school leadership to stamp out educational disadvantage.

The CV goes on and the 68-year-old insists that retirement is not in his vocabulary.

Oasis is expected to appoint a permanent principal to lead the academy into the new building next year and Sir Iain said: “I do not know an awful lot about the new building.

“But I know that one of the tasks that lie ahead of me is to get the Butterworth Lane and Roman Road children more and more together so they do not meet for the first time when they come into the new building.”