Mr A Baybutt

As Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning my main responsibilities include ensuring that everything that is happening in the classroom and beyond, supports teachers to teach and students to learn. We have a relentless focus on students “Going for Gold” in all aspects of their learning and I support our school community to do this.

I oversee Staff Continuing Professional Development (CPD), the induction of Early Career Teachers (ECTs), the whole school reading strategy and homework policy and staff recognition.

My main teaching subject is History, but I also teach Personal Development and Drama.

I love working at Millthorpe as no two days are the same! There is so much going on within our school and the opportunities that are offered for students are the best I have ever known. However, working with the students is the best part of my job; welcoming them into school each morning, chatting to them at break and lunch, those “penny-drop moments” in lessons, the buzz of the classroom, the list goes on. Our students are amazing and so polite and friendly. It is a joy to work with them.

I have been at Millthorpe for 17 years now. I arrived as a brand-new Early Career Teacher and Millthorpe was my first ever teaching job. I have never left and have never looked to leave. I love the school and am completely committed to it. I have held various roles in that time; Head of Year 7, Head of House, Assistant Headteacher for Pastoral Care and now, Assistant Principal for Teaching and Learning. I have been looked after and invested in, and this is another reason why I have never looked to leave.

The students know about my obsession with Blackburn Rovers Football Club. I have held a season ticket for over 25 years and make the journey back across the Pennines for every home game, and I make it to quite a few away games too. It is especially important to me to make the effort because I am lucky enough to sit next to my dad in the Blackburn End.

Most students also know about my Adidas trainer collection. At the last count, I had over 70 pairs of Adidas trainers and these are all displayed on a purpose-built shoe rack in a spare bedroom at home.

I love to travel and try to get abroad as often as I can. My favourite holiday destinations to date are New York, San Diego, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Ibiza. Many of my holidays also take in history so I have visited the First World War Battlefields and Auschwitz-Birkenau multiple times; I have undertaken a 12-hour bus journey to Sarajevo simply to walk the route that Franz Ferdinand made in 1914, culminating in standing on the spot of his assassination; I have visited Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam the 9/11 memorial museum in New York and crawled through the Vietcong tunnels in Cu Chi, Vietnam. On a trip to Malta to watch the England national football team, I took time to visit the Lascaris War Rooms, perfectly blending two of my passions…history and football.