Head held high

Bare Trees headteacher John Tobin with (l-r) pupils Nayyira Malik, Haris Kayani, Abdul Habib, Suhana Begum, Abdul Qabid and Emillie Davies.

A LONG-SERVING head teacher has retired after 34 years at a Chadderton school with a clean sweep of outstanding inspection reports under his belt.

John Tobin (64) joined Bare Trees Junior School as deputy head in 1982, having previously taught at Mills Hill and Thorp primary schools. He became head in 1984 and remained at the helm when the school merged with Bare Trees Infant and Nursery in 2008. In that time the school has had six Ofsted inspections — and has received the top grade of “outstanding” in every one.

Originally from Liverpool, now from Saddleworth, Mr Tobin said: “I have loved every minute of it and I am very proud that this is one of the most successful schools you’ll find. It has had six outstanding Ofsted inspections while I have been head and I don’t think it’s a record that will be equalled, because people don’t stay in post as long.”

Mr Tobin said he has stayed so long because he was “old fashioned” and had wanted to give something back to the community when he became head. More recently he supervised the expansion of the school, which now has more than 600 pupils.

“What I’ll miss is the daily interaction with the staff that have kept me on my toes, and the children who I love and have seen become fantastic young citizens.”