Robert Lamb is stepping down on a high.
The maths teacher who has led King James’s School as headteacher for the past 12 years believes that this summer is the “perfect time” for him to retire after 40 years in education.
He said: “It is the right time; I have achieved what I wanted to achieve.
“King James’s is very, very successful and heavily oversubscribed. We have just had our Ofsted and are really close to Outstanding, we have a fantastic staff and we have just had out best-ever GCSE results - despite being the worst funded secondary school in the borough.”
That wasn’t always the case. Robert was working in Rochdale, where he still lives, when he heard about the King James’s job and knew what a good reputation the school had.
When he arrived he got quite a shock: “There was a lot of investment needed and work to be done,” he said.
He was successful in applying for grants to replace out-of-date facilities and shortly after joining gained Specialist Science College status for the school. This brought more funds for technology and launched the drive for improvements.
In 2003 the benchmark of five A* to C GSCE grades, including English and maths, was just 31%. For the last four years it has stood at more than 70% and King James’s has consistently been in the top three for GCSE results in Kirklees
In the last eight years only four pupils have left without at least five GCSEs, and NEETs (young people Not in Education, Employment or Training) are almost non-existent.
Robert, 61, a father of two, is proud of this achievement and of his legacy of helping every child, of whatever ability and background, to achieve their potential.
“The children here are fantastic, they are a credit to their parents and the community. They are very caring, sensible and well-behaved.
“I love teaching and would like to think that I had made a difference to their lives and life chances. I will miss them, the staff and being in the classroom.
Robert has, however, every confidence in the school going on to bigger and better things.
He has described his successor’s appointment as “brilliant”, having worked with Ian Rimmer for a decade. Ian is the current vice principal and takes over the headship in September.
“I think the school is in very safe hands, Ian shares the ethos of the school, and there will be continuity. He is more than capable of taking over.”
