'No hats, no hoodies in school'

The new head at St George's, Maida Vale, is enforcing strict sartorial rules in the quest for academic excellence. Mark Greaves went to meet him Martin Tissot is a kind of supemanny for schools. He arrives at a failing institution, administers a dose of "good old-fashioned discipline", and leaves once pupils' results have begun to soar.
At St Michael's school in Southwark, London, he almost doubled the GCSE pass rate after five years. Now he is taking over at another of London's "difficult" schools: St George's, Maida Vale, where headteacher Philip Lawrence was killed outside the school gates trying to defend a pupil 11 years ago.
Before 1 meet Mr Tissot I imagine him to he one of those "gentlemen's club" headmasters. I picture him leaning back in a commanding position from behind his desk and delivering the kind of monologue that will inform the listener of the extent of his learning. But when I arrive in his office, there is no imposing mahogany table, and no monologue. Ttssot — who looks younger than 40 — has a brisk, business-like courtesy, and treats me absolutely as an equal. There is even a hint of awkwardness about him: he does not seem entirely comfortable with the length of his arms and legs.
I first ask Tissot why his tenure at St Michael's was so remarkably successful. When he arrived in 2001 only 39 per cent of pupils achieved A* to C grades; in 2006 the figure was a staggering 77 per cent.
He explains, in rather disappointingly sober fashion, that there is no "secret formula". Success lies in a combination of factors, he says, which anyone can learn from a textbook.
Tissot becomes more animated when I mention the subject of discipline. "Ah yes," he says, " 'good old-fashioned discipline'. I use that phrase a lot."
He stresses that there should be "zero tolerance" of disruption in the classroom. "People tend to say, 'what comes first, behaviour or teaching?' They'll say that if you've got a great teacher the pupils will behave, and it's down to your teaching skills.
"Maybe that's true in some cases, but I want to develop a culture where everyone can teach, from the most brilliantly advanced teacher to the newly qualified teacher who's just learning the craft. A culture where
teachers are allowed to teach." Tissot talks persuasively about the importance of politeness and good manners. "Standing up when a teacher comes into the classroom, treating each other well in the corridors — 'yes, sir' , dyes, miss': I'm an absolute stickler for those things."
Indeed, whenever a member of staff enters his office during our interview Tissot refers to them curtly as "sir". "Partly, if I've got things on my mind it's just easier to call them 'sir'," he explains. "But it's also good because it's catching and it's already caught on here."
He insists that pupils should look smart —"No hats or hoodies".
"You should have been here for the Year Seven Mass today," he says (it is Wednesday, September 6, the day before the start of term). "They were perfectly turned out: not a top button undone, ties all the right length. They're little things but they make the children proud of themselves and proud of the school."
Asfor his approach to the role of headteacher, Tissot explains that he feels most comfortable when he is "leading from the front". It seems he is keen not to become the pedagogic equivalent of a cowardly First World War army officer. "1 like staff to see that I am prepared to take U difficult class, perhaps a difficult Year 10 group on a wet Friday afternoon," he says.
Tissot has plans to turn St George's into a specialist business and humanities college. At St Michael'S he cultivated links with businesses and developed a system of "nnentoring" in which businessmen and professionals would come into the school and talk to pupils about their ambitions and their schoolwork.
A business studies teacher himself (he has also taught Maths and French) Tissot has an MBA and an MA in economics, for which he studied parttime.
He has an enthusiasm for strengthening the relationship between schools and businesses which would cause dismay among Old Labour types who shudder at anything that might resemble corporate influence in education.
"I think we can take a lot from the private sector in the way we deal with
people and present ourselves:. 'fissot says. "For instance if there's a parent shouting at us, upset, we treat them like a customer and do our very best to treat them in a very professional way."
Tissot is eager to foster an "opendoor policy" to lessons so that teachers can observe and learn from one another. He wants to focus more on the process of teaching and learning, and to encourage teachers to think about the way they lead their lessons.
Tissot insists that the Catholic ethos is central to the life of a Catholic school: "It's not a bolt-on extra," he says, "it's something that runs like the word Brighton thmugh Brighton rock. It affects my life in that particular way
as. well I le explains that he has only ever worked in Catholic schools, and had no desire to vvork in a secular institution. "It wouldn't have the same sense of mission. 1 see the mission of schools as very much the Church's mission: to teach people to know and to love and serve God."
Tissot points out that before his arrival neither the head nor the deputy of St George's was a Catholic. "1 always wonder how God is working in my life but I always feel that I'm being drawn somewhere. I almost feel that I've got to be here."
His own spirituality, Tissot adds, is "not very happy-clappy", more "quiet and reflective". "But I think it's very
important tn start the year off with a Mass. It's the most important thing in our lives: oui ielationship with God and whether we can grow and develop that relationship."
I ask Tissot how he feels taking over at a school made notorious by the death of Philip Lawrence. who was stabbed in 1995 after he tried to protect a pupil from assault. "It will always be associated with the school." he replies. "It's not something we can wipe out or forget.
"But it's a different school now, with almost a completely different set of staff. In the future, I want people to say instead, 'Oh, St George's, that very high-achieving school in Maida Vale ." Indeed, although the intake at St Get-age's is "one of the most. socially deprived in Britain", last year's GCSE results were a huge success. with a nine per cent jump in the pass rate.
"The teachers were under a lot of pressure, but came up numps.'," Tissot says. There has even been a champagne reception to celebrate.
Tissot explains that Were is now plenty of good feeling within the school, which he looks forward to "exploiting".
And so how does he feel one day before the start of term? "I'm not nervous, I don't get nervous. I will sleep soundly tonight. We'll just mil up our sleeves and get on with it."