The School on the Gurnos

Contains very strong language.

Goetre Primary School on the Gurnos Estate, Merthyr Tydfil,

home to 387 pupils.

For head teacher Denise Morgan, this school on one of Wales'

toughest estates has been her vocation for nearly three decades.

This story is about a very special head teacher

who is retiring Friday 18th July, 2014,

and has been in Goetre Primary for 27 years.

Denise has made it her mission to champion

the school as a place of learning,

refuge and stability for some of the most deprived children in Wales.

It's a job that has catapulted Denise into the finals

of the Pride Of Britain Awards

and won her an MBE for services to education.

It's a big part of my life.

SHE CLEARS HER THROAT

A massive part of my life.

As this matriarch of the Gurnos Estate takes on her final term

as head teacher, we'll follow the highs

and the lows of her last days at the school on the Gurnos.

After 27 years,

I feel really a part of this community, I really do.

The Gurnos has not been without its problems over the years

but I think with the community spirit that is here now, I think

they've got every chance to put it right.

Built in the early 1950s, the Gurnos Estate became notorious

for crime, and it is still struggling with some of the

highest figures for unemployment and social deprivation in Wales.

But for Denise, educating the youngest generation in one

of Wales' most challenging catchments has been her life.

July 18th will be my last day

and I think that's going to be quite emotional.

I've actually blanked the day out for that day.

There's nothing going on that day except...

Mrs Morgan.

# One, two, three

# Give it one Give it two

# Give it one, two, three

# We are the children of Goetre School... #

Leaving is not easy for Denise.

She is intricately bound into the lives of many of her pupils.

With poverty comes a lot of problems, doesn't it? You know.

And we know that some of our children are experiencing

drug and alcohol abuse within the home,

which leads to domestic violence,

but I think when they come into school,

they feel very...very safe and very calm.

It's a very calm, very relaxed atmosphere

and it's a very stable atmosphere for them.

Despite Denise's best efforts,

the problems of the estate do impact on school life.

Well, I've just had the caretaker come to tell me now that

we've caught two people under the subway injecting,

and he's obviously very concerned about this

cos there are children passing now on their way to school.

So my family education support officer now is just checking

the cameras to see what's happened and we'll be phoning the police.

So he's injecting into his foot.

And he takes it straight out of his foot now

and then injects it straight into her.

It's a fact of life at the moment that these things are going on.

But what's upsetting for me is to think that people are doing this

in broad daylight in full view of my children, which...

..which is very upsetting, really.

The problem that we actually would have there is the children

that actually witnessed it are like our reception children

and they're too young...

Ann Broadway is Denise's family education support officer.

It's her job to manage relations between the school, parents,

police and other outside agencies.

To see our reception children and year one children turning round

and watching that, that's quite sickened me.

So I dread to think what the parents must have been feeling

who have watched that this morning.

And I need to do an assembly on it.

The events of the morning raise some serious questions about

how to introduce difficult subjects to even the youngest pupils.

-Now, I know that I do a lesson with them in year two.

-Yeah.

Who, what, where? Who is allowed to give us medicines?

What medicines are safe to take and where's it safe to keep them?

And I show them a syringe in that lesson and, you know,

give them a warning so that they do get some medication in that area,

but it's not until year two, year one and reception...

-You wouldn't think, would you?

-No.

-You wouldn't think.

There are very few days where we can come in, lock the door

and just get on with things calmly.

That's the nature of our job.

But, I mean, I'm here as well to support that with parents,

because that's the sort of thing I was tackling on a day-to-day

after the amalgamation, on my own.

Denise took the pioneering step of creating Ann's non-teaching post

when she realised that dealing with issues

outside of education was becoming a full-time job.

The two are a close team.

That's been a tremendous support to me.

And I know it'll continue cos that's the nature of the person

I've appointed.

PHONE RINGS

'Hello?'

Hiya, love, it's Ann, it is, down in the school.

Hiya, love. Can you come and pick him up, please?

He's got an exclusion for this afternoon.

He...

He's called another child a C-U-N-T.

Um, he's refused to speak to the member of staff

who was dealing with it...

Over the last three years,

Ann's role has become pivotal to school life,

dealing with issues ranging from bad behaviour

to families in crisis.

Whilst Den is amazing, she knew that she could deal with

all like the educational attainment and targets.

The social and emotional issues here in the school just would

have wiped it out completely, cos there are weeks where I may

attend seven, or eight, or even nine social service meetings a week.

Well, for Denise, if she was going out to do that, there is no way

she could raise targets within the school.

The government are asking us to tackle poverty

and disadvantage from within school.

We're here as educators but, without their social

and emotional needs being met,

education is not going to happen really, is it, for them?

Everyone has just come back after going home.

There is huge issues around Dad that I have to deal with.

And Dad works in Cardiff, and the children tomorrow are due

to go on a trip to the Sherman Theatre.

So she's come back because she's that anxious about going

to the Sherman Theatre in case she bumps into her father.

But even though we're trying to explain Cardiff is like a huge place

with lots of different areas and lots of different places,

I can't convince her.

For her, Cardiff's like that. Do you know what I mean?

It's just a small little place like the Gurnos, and the chances are

she'll bump into him, so she's not going.

So...

But, for me, I would rather have taken her

and made her enjoy the experience and then...

But I can't. I can't move her on it unfortunately.

SHE SIGHS

Oh, well, they're off on their annual trip to Dolygaer

and as you can see there's great excitement.

They absolutely love it.

The best thing about going on holiday is no school.

And that is right!

For some of Denise's pupils,

school trips are their first opportunity to get off the estate.

This time it's the turn of the year five and six pupils,

setting off on a three-day adventure break.

We're opening their eyes really to the wider world out there.

And it's just seeing their expression when they go to these places.

Says it all really,

because the excitement that they have and the realisation that there is

another world outside of the Gurnos, really.

-We're doing gorge walking, camping...

-No, not camping.

-..canoeing...

-Canoeing.

-..caving.

This is everybody's last warning.

Up in Dolygaer, myself and Miss Jones are not in charge.

If you don't listen to an instruction

when you're doing an activity,

or somebody sulks over something that they don't like,

they'll be coming home.

That is a warning to everybody.

It's teaching them different things,

like he's never been away from home and his parents and everything.

So it's three days thinking for himself.

I put him on this morning.

So it's good for the kids.

Well, there's no spending money, no mobiles,

cos it's like going back in time up there. It's dark ages.

I find a lot of the children who don't achieve in an academic way

excel when we go to places like Dolygaer

and the outdoor environment doing lots of things

that they enjoy outside of the classroom environment.

Chocolate sandwiches, crisps, more crisps, and more crisps.

We did tell the children they were allowed to bring a few

packets of sweets and maybe a few bottles of pop or squash,

but some of them have brought half of Tesco's with them, I think,

and brought a lot more.

Chocolate cake, chocolate cake, more chocolate cake, Coco Pops.

Whoa.

Back in the silence of the school, it's a moment of truth for Denise.

The advert for my job has gone out to press.

Went out to press last week.

I think this...

..looking through this is making it very real at the moment now, so...

I'm proud to have been head here.

But...

we'll hand the battle over to someone else for a while.

SHE LAUGHS

Find your grandparent.

They are here, otherwise Mrs Broadway wouldn't have called your name.

Becoming a grandmother and a grandfather is wonderful.

One minute you're just a mother or a father

and the next you're all wise and prehistoric.

THEY CHUCKLE

Grandmothers and grandfathers never run out of hugs.

Denise introduced the popular "bring a grandparent to school day"

to reach out to families on the estate and involve them

in their children's education.

Lots of our grandparents are the main carers for our children.

Um, parents are out working.

So, really, it was sort of valuing

what they give back to the family really.

While Bampa fixes your bikes?

Is it?

"Reminds me of Mrs Brown off the TV.

"Cleans my cuts when I fall off my bike."

The opportunity that those days provide us with

is that we can talk about having aspirations for the children.

To get through to the children, there is this can-do culture,

"I can do, I can achieve," and we get grandparents

to talk about perhaps the jobs that they had when they were working.

My gran is a crazy woman.

-SHE CHUCKLES

-In a good way, not a bad way!

It's hard enough to get on in the world, isn't it?

But if you don't have a good education, you've got nothing, so...

Especially around this area. They need it.

And if anybody can help the parents, grandparents, all the better.

The oldest pupils in year six are also preparing to move on this term.

MUSIC PLAYS

With high unemployment on the estate,

Denise and the staff encourage these pupils to stay focused

and avoid the mistakes that the older generations made.

I think personally times are changing,

and I think these children will move forward and achieve

and have that drive.

There are children who've gone through here in the last few years

and you can see it in them in class -

they are self-motivated, independent, enthusiastic learners.

Caitlin is one of the ones...

What did I tell you you've got to do in your new school?

Go to your way?

-You've got to go a...

-Long way.

-..long way.

-Do you think you'll always remember that?

-Yeah.

You will go a long way.

Sometimes they can just forget where they're heading

and they need to be reminded

that it doesn't matter where we're from, we can and we will achieve.

And as I always tell them every year, every child here,

"You can all go to college, you can all go to university."

And they know that and they believe it.

It's holding on to that belief for me.

I've got to stop a minute.

-SHE ANNOUNCES:

-Right, Year Six, can you sit down, please? Quickly.

All eyes on me, magnet eyes.

We're going to walk quietly down to assembly.

-Who's in charge of music today?

-That's me, Miss.

Wait there, Rhys.

MUSIC PLAYS

# The name of the Lord is

# A strong tower...#

The daily assembly is part of the fabric of school life,

and in this last term, the pupils are visited by local church group.

What does God mean to these children?

It's a little bit abstract for them in many ways, isn't it?

But we try and do it through values more than anything

and looking out for each other really, and caring for each other.

MUSIC AND SINGING CONTINUES

I have got a faith, I'm Roman Catholic.

I was always brought up to think of others, to respect others,

to consider other people's feelings and to be a good person,

and that's what we try now with our children here, to make them

good citizens, really.

Denise's personal values have equipped her well to be a role model

on an estate that's still struggling with social deprivation.

More and more families are experiencing difficulties,

and I think as a school we've become far more of a community school

over the years since I've been here.

That's the major change for me.

The school currently has around 60% free school meals

and over 50% of its cohort are on the additional learning needs register.

We have a number of specialised units within the school to support

children with a variety of additional learning needs.

One in particular is a social and emotional behaviour unit which

has a small number of pupils in it and a high staff ratio.

These pupils are not just from our catchment area,

they are from the catchment area of Merthyr Tydfil as a whole.

It's the highest number of units in any one school really.

It's not fair.

THEY CHAT

Each day brings fresh challenges.

CHILD CRIES

-OK.

-Don't cry, don't cry.

-You're all right.

But some days are tougher than others for Denise and her staff.

I've spoken to social services on it

and I've spoken to them again this afternoon.

But social services had since been out into the hospital

and the woman had stabbed wounds

and was black and blue from head to foot.

Six children were removed from the property

and put into the care of somebody and it was an inappropriate place.

We've arrived back in school this morning to find out that

one of our parents has been allegedly involved in a stabbing.

Now, we don't know many more of the details of that

at this moment in time, but the impact on that...

The impact of that happening

as a family must be tremendous, really, and extremely worrying.

We've got masses of families who absolutely adore their children

and work hard and support them and support the school,

and then there's a small minority then where you feel,

oh, they just need that extra support,

and it just upsets you really to think what some of these children

have experienced in their very, very young lives.

Denise understands what it's like to go through trauma as a child.

A tragedy in her own childhood shaped the course of her life.

I lost my younger sister in the Aberfan disaster.

She was 18 months younger than me

and I think, you know, being such a close family,

and when that happened,

it...it absolutely rocked the family and my parents in particular.

I can remember sitting in that school and being asked by a member of staff,

"What are you going to be, Denise, when you grow up?

"You've passed your 11+ now, you can go to college.

"What are you going to be?" "I'm going to be a teacher," I said.

Um, but I had to give lots of help and support to the family

because there were four other children younger than me.

So my sort of path through school was quite...turbulent

and I had to resit lots of exams.

I now have a very clear understanding -

I have had over the years -

of what some of these children are facing and how best to support them.

And, yes, that's why I went into teaching, thinking, well,

I can do something to help other children and, more importantly,

their families as well.

Working with families to keep pupils in school is top of the agenda.

With some parents already jailed for their children's truancy,

Denise has introduced class incentives.

Best attendance out of the whole school is in...

..Mrs McCarthy's class.

CHILDREN CHEER

We're really driving on attendance with all the prizes

and the trips out for good attendance,

so they are seeing the importance of being in school every day

and it...in fact, it's become quite a competition between children now,

questioning each other why they haven't been in school.

Government guidelines are changing, so, you know, like with holidays,

parents will be fined for taking them out of school on holiday.

Lateness - parents can be fined now

if their children are persistently late.

So it is my job to get to these parents to stop it.

There's been 6,448 illnesses from September to the 21st of May.

Those parents are going to be asked to produce medical evidence.

And if they can't produce the medical evidence,

then these are going to be fined.

So, things are changing.

For the pupils, school life isn't just about being in the classroom.

Uh, cameraman.

# We're going to traffic wardens, traffic wardens. #

We're going to...

like traffic wardens.

BOTH: If someone double parks...

If people double park...

Or they park in the wrong place, we tell them to move

and give them a ticket.

No, we don't give them a ticket, we just ask them to move.

Parents wouldn't actually listen to the police,

so I came up with the initiative with Merthyr transport

and the police of picking children to be young traffic wardens.

-I'm getting good at this...

-Yes.

-..walking lark and the parking.

You taught me a good lesson, you did, yesterday. And you did.

-And me?

-And you, yeah.

So what I'm going to do now is start walking.

Right, do your jobs.

-Move down a bit.

-Would you mind trying to move down a bit?

They're like Rottweilers, they are...

when they see people parking where they shouldn't.

-I like being a traffic warden because...

-I did!

He said he's going to park now like this.

Like this. He never done it. Went like this.

They now want to roll this out into like other schools in Merthyr now.

But it only started on Monday.

So this is unique. This is the first of the kind.

-So... So we're the first ones, ain't we?

-Yeah.

Yeah.

First young traffic wardens of Merthyr.

And old traffic warden, that's me.

HE SINGS INDISTINCTLY

It's the end of school and it's the weekend, weh-heh-heh!

# It's raining men...#

Three days until Denise leaves and the staff are having

a last-minute rehearsal for a special goodbye assembly.

It's a chance for the school and community to celebrate all that

Denise has done for the children and families of the Gurnos Estate.

I'm feeling quite emotional today now cos there's lots and lots

going on today and it's a bit of a reality now really.

Three days left to go.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

We're talking this morning about an end of a career.

And Mrs Morgan has given 200% all the time

because she is passionate about Goetre.

Outstanding in all aspects.

None other than an MBE from the Queen.

The only head teacher who has led Goetre

through an inspection since Mrs Heps came here,

and that's over 20 years.

It took a woman head for this to happen. Well done.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Pride of Britain.

And of course,

she's been the pride of the Gurnos Estate for over 20 years.

You have given our school the roots needed to grow and flourish.

I don't have any children of my own.

But when I am asked, "Do you have any children of your own?"

what do I say, teachers?

THEY RESPOND INDISTINCTLY

I say, "I have 387 children."

And they look at me and go, "What?!"

And I say, "I am head teacher of Goetre Primary School

"on the Gurnos, which is the academy of..."

-Excellence.

-Excellence.

Never stop doing what you do,

never stop being who you are and never stop singing my song.

-You are simply the...

-ALL:

-Best.

# You're simply the best

# Better than all the rest

# Better than anyone... #

Retirement.

Goodbye, tension. Hello, pension.

# You're the best. #

Her whole life, this has been.

It has been her whole life.

She's had bad times and good times

but she's been through it all,

you know, and she's worked really hard.

And the children all love her and the teachers all love her.

27 years of assemblies.

Five assemblies a weak.

Thousands.

Yeah, I've probably done thousands of assemblies in my time

during the 27 years I've been here,

both in the infants and the juniors. Um...

But the assembly today has just... has been just so amazing. I just...

That was beyond my wildest dreams.

I never ever thought that I would experience that this morning.

-Friday, last day at school!

-Yippee!

-Ah, is that a...

-Toe ring.

-Toe ring?!

For you to have nice feet in flip-flops, Miss.

I'll be able to use those now when I go on my holiday.

SHE GASPS

No, she's still in. I'm filling her car.

-It's like a flower shop.

-Ah, isn't that lovely?

Just wanted to say thank you for your support.

And believing in me.

-I said to you all along.

-I know.

-Bye.

THEY TALK WEEPILY

-You look after yourself.

-Yeah.

Oh, gosh, love her.

I'm just glad somebody else got to empty it the other side, not me.

So, I'm sure there'll be another trip. I'm positive.

With each parent that comes to pick a child is a gift.

I just wanted to bring you all together to tell you it's all

been a big joke, actually.

LAUGHTER

I just wanted to say a big, big thank you to you.

I know I've worked here for 27 years, but in all my teaching career,

I don't think I've ever worked with a more dedicated group of people.

This school is not easy by any means.

It's extremely challenging on times,

and there are times when you've probably walked out of here,

like I have, absolutely exhausted and on your knees.

But you've always managed to come back in, pick up the pieces

and start again.

And really, I cannot thank you enough for that.

I've always said it's my school, my school, my school,

but it's our school really.

It always has been our school.

I'll see you in the holidays.

It's been a lifetime of education. Yeah, it has.

Looking back it's gone fairly quickly, I suppose.

But when I think back to that day when I sat on the table

and said, at 11 years of age, "I'm going to be a teacher."

But then experiencing what I experienced after that

and then, all of a sudden, it happened for me.

And I never looked back.

# Give it one, two, three

# We are the children of Goetre School

# We take a pride in the things we do

# Learning together and having fun

# Who's for a good day?

# EVERYONE!

# Give it one Give it two

# Give it one, two, three

# Give it one Give it two

-Bye.

-# Give it one, two, three

# We are the children of Goetre School

# We take a pride in the things we do

# Learning together and having fun

# Who's for a good day?

# EVERYONE! #