As the new head of Warden Park Academy Jonathan Morris has a large school to take care of and big boots to fill, taking over from Steve Johnson in January. Warden Park head boy Luke Mitchell talks to the new man about the new role...

Full story on p.16 of Feb/Mar issue of Cuckfield Life

For local man (and newly appointed head of Warden Park Academy) Mr Morris, a new challenge involving people and education has never been something to shy away from. Moving around the area throughout the years, Mr Morris has seen various successes in many different places; starting off in the property business and then working with adults with special educational needs. Mr Morris took his teaching qualification before moving on to specialise in Theology, and has held many Assistant and Deputy Headships at schools in the south of England. Now, moving on from a seven year Head Teacher post at St Wilfrids in Crawley, he has come to Warden Park with a wonderful, ambitious (yet achievable) vision: to make Warden Park ‘world class’.

This concept is a very important one for Mr Morris and he’s presented it to every year group since taking post around three weeks ago. This was playing on the minds of the student body, and indeed mine, so I sat down to ask exactly what the vision of ‘world class’ was. Mr Morris explained that, perhaps most importantly, a world class school is “rooted in ethics” and takes great care in benevolence amongst the school community. Naturally following behind this is pride in appearance, work and the idea of achieving exceptional exam results across the board – all of which are achievable given the commitment of staff, parents and students that Mr Morris was greeted with.