KentOnline Podcast: Headteacher in Ebbsfleet Garden City to put new school at heart of community
06:00, 21 December 2019
updated: 08:55, 08 January 2020
A new school due to open in 2020 hopes to give pupils a community-driven experience as part of the curriculum.
Ebbsfleet Green Primary school is being built in Ebbsfleet Garden City, a brand-new development which will be a home for up to 30,000 people.
Joanne Wilkinson-Tabi, who has recently been appointed headteacher for Ebbsfleet Green Primary school, said this is a unique opportunity for a brand new school to positively shape the lives of the children.
She said: "We really do want to harness the opportunities that working within a garden city will bring to us.
"We are going to be looking at entrepreneurial opportunities within the curriculum, so our new staff will be trained in creating a curriculum that is fit for purpose."
The head is hoping to use the green aspect of the garden city as opportunity to teach the children about running a business.
An aerial view of the development
She said: "What we're actually probably going to be looking at is some sort of fruit and vegetable business because we want to be utilizing the allotments that we're going to have on site.
"So there's going to be an opportunity for these kids to grow vegetables and fruit and things like that."
Speaking on the KM Community Podcast, Ms Wilkinson-Tabi also took the chance to respond to the dwindling levels of graduates becoming primary school teachers.
She said: "What we need to do to ensure that teachers have a healthy work life balance is really harness the collaborative opportunities that are out there.
"That will actually reduce workload in the longer term because if we can share best practice, share planning, share resources, share knowledge that's going to benefit everybody."
The target set by the government to recruit new teacher into primary schools was not met this year, with some saying intense workloads are putting graduates off the profession.
Ms Wilkinson-Tabi will be taking on the role next September in addition to continuing her existing duties at Greenacres Primary in Eltham.
The head teacher has been involved in the education sector for 25 years.
