Herewith Kevin's press release, it may tell you things you didn't realise about our head:

Kevin Eveleigh:
Trained: Eaton Hall College, Retford 1975-78
Misterton Secondary 78-80:
English/Re
Ordsall Hall Secondary 81-82:
English/ Special Needs/PE
Bishop Alexander 82-85:
English /PE
Ollerton Whinney Lane 85 – 88:
PE/ Environmental Studies
Caunton 88-92:
Head teacher
Muskham 92- 99:
Head teacher
Barnby Road 99-2008:
Head teacher

“ I am delighted to have received this honour. I have had a wonderful career as a teacher and head teacher in Nottinghamshire and more particularly in the Newark and Sherwood area. I suppose it’s unusual to have had three headships all serving the same area. I have had the great good fortune to work with some outstanding teachers and two superb head teachers in Roy Bird (Bishop) and Sue Archer (Ollerton). The thousands of children I have taught or lead in the Newark and Sherwood area have always made my job a great pleasure, it is because of them that my career has always been a source of great pleasure and pride. To have been nominated by all my Chairs off Governors (past and present),LEA officers, parents and ex pupils makes this award particularly special to me. I have had major difficulties with heart and stomach operations over the years but have always had amazing support from my schools and communities and I thank them for that special patience.

Each of my head ships were very different, with challenges unique to each. Caunton was very special as my first headship and we had to work hard to attract more pupils. I had a small but wonderful team of teachers and we managed to double the size of the school in a within four years. I believe that being a head teacher and teaching nearly full time was one of the most demanding learning experiences of my career. Recently I was thrilled to see that one of my own Caunton ex- pupils Jamie Mc Intyre appointed Head at Winthorpe. In a small school you had to teach the same children throughout their career, those children remain very special to me.

Muskham was a phenomenal experience and I was surrounded by gifted teachers who made the job a delight. I became very involved in the community and made some very special friends, we brought in a lot of sports coaches and clubs to enhance our school and we were thrilled to be named a “School of Excellence” in 1998. The professionalism and commitment of everybody there made the school a joy to lead. Leaving Muskham to take on Barnby Road was the hardest decision of my life but I could see no way of improving Muskham and Barnby Road was having a difficult time and its potential was very exciting.
A matter of days after my interview for the post, OFSTED placed it in “Serious Weaknesses”. It was the most challenging task of my career but within a year the HMI came back and found us to be making “Good progress”, in two years OFSTED returned and judged us “Good and improving” and in 2005 we had an HMI Physical Education inspection and were given our first “Outstanding”. Then barely in the new building in 2007, we were inspected again and given “Outstanding Status”. A wonderful new building and the support of Pam Tulley (The ex-Director of Education) allowed me to be involved in the design , we had to really fight to get a very unique building, but it is what the children came up with and the antithesis to the dark old box building that had seen better days.
Being a head teacher today is extremely demanding, we spend much of our time justifying what we do on paper and analysing statistics, fortunately, unlike most jobs I can still get up out of the office and enjoy the special company of children on the yard. I still like the things children like and am much happier in their company than any where else, I haven’t grown up at 52 , so I doubt I will now. I still love my job, and this wonderful Barnby community and young staff, both teaching and non-teaching, offer a bright future I look forward to.

SPORT:
I have always been an enthusiastic amateur and played football right across Nottinghamshire and in the Newark area with Eaton Hall College, Everton village, Collingham, Southwell and latterly Muskham Crown before my heart condition suddenly stopped me playing at 35. I have always taken a sports team of some kind during my career and love coaching children. I believe in competitive sport and the power of sport to enthuse communities. At Bishop Alexander I ran the Newark School’s Area side for five years and can remember some wonderful games and players. At Ollerton I jointly managed the Dukeries Area School’s side and for a time was Dukeries Area Sports Secretary. We won the Nottinghamshire Primary Cup twice in that time, something I’m very proud of.

When I left to join Caunton I was given “Life Membership “ of the Dukeries Sports Association. I continued to run teams as a head teacher, but being in a small school had to diversify and try and run several teams in different sports. I particularly enjoyed hockey (football with sticks) and have coached teams for the past 21 years (every Friday during the season) and still do. In 2006 the Newark Hockey Club gave me shirt number “100” in recognition of all the players who started or came through my clubs. During my time at Caunton and Muskham I ran the village’s hockey league for six years . At Muskham I couldn’t take the football team because the very gifted Richard Lane ran the side, so I focussed increasingly on hockey coaching.

In all my schools my aim has been to offer , coach and compete in as many sports as possible and have coaching five nights a week across that range. Where we didn’t have the skills, we brought in coaches; today this is called “extended schools”, then it was the sign of an active, healthy school. I have always believed that it is a small step from pride in your teams, clubs, and choirs to pride in your school.

In 2005/6 I was asked to be Head teacher representative for the Nottingamshire PLT Sport England initiative and lectured to all Nottinghamshire heads on using sport as a school improvement tool. Today my philosophy is take part and commit, Caunton, Muskham and Barnby could always be found at any tournament or sporting venue and still have great reputations for this. Children have everything to gain and nothing to lose, you won’t always win but that’s not the point. Nothing thrills me more than watching teams today, there are hundreds of teachers giving up their time sharing the same passion , people like the late Mick Ashton at John Hunt ,and for me it’s still a very special thing.”

CONCLUSION
I have always had the support of a wonderful family, my wife (Sue is Head Teacher at Long Bennington ) put her career on hold when I was a young head and spent many hours washing football kits and running teams around the county with me. As a head I often steal her best ideas."

Kevin