Dorchester's Prince of Wales School is brilliant at keeping us at Dorchester Nub News up-to-date with what wonderful things are happening there.

As more and more news came, the more I was amazed at what things they were doing, completely transforming parts of the school for its #InspiredToLearn weeks, adding Dorset Knob throwing to the curriculum and welcoming exciting visitors - there was so much going on and I was definitely inspired.

This spurred me to want to talk to headteacher Gary Spracklen and what inspired him to really go above and beyond.

Even before meeting him when I first got to the school, I was welcomed by some very friendly staff and some of the most polite and happy children passed me on their way out on an day trip.

Mr Spracklen explained that he has been headteacher at The Prince of Wales School since 2017, but it has been part of his teaching journey since he was a teenager and a sixth form student at Thomas Hardye School when he would volunteer at the primary school as part of a pre-teacher training programme.

"I had inclinations that I wanted to go into teaching and I always thought I would be a secondary school teacher," said Mr Spracklen. "But my experience of coming here as a 16 and 17-year-old really inspired me to go into primary."

Even while studying for a BA Hons in primary education at Winchester University, his placement school was The Prince of Wales. He started as a trainee teacher at the school in 2008, during which time, it got an Ofsted rating of outstanding in every area.

After a term and a half at a Weymouth school, Mr Spracklen came back and worked up to the senior leadership team and became assistant headteacher, as well as winning South West digital educator of the year in 2012.

However, a job he couldn't refuse came up in Portland and he worked there for five years before taking the headship and returning to The Prince of Wales in 2017, with the school being rated 'good' by Ofsted in 2018.

He added: "We constantly strive to do our very best for the young people here. This school has always had an ethos that seeks to inspire children to learn and it goes right back to the early days… I very much feel I'm standing on the shoulders of giants when leading this school. The founding head, Peter Farrington, was an inspiration.

"Everything we do here is seeking to develop children as effective learners, even more so than getting answers right in a test or filling up pages with writing, of course we want them to do those things, but we want to do it with a love and passion of learning."

Mr Spracklen praises the school's PTA and says the success of the school is built on the fact it's at the heart of the community with many parents, grandparents and members of the community coming in to help with jobs to make the school even better, paint murals and volunteer in the classrooms.

Mr Spracklen said: "Normally once a month we have a Saturday or Sunday where we advertise to the community come in and help us. The first time I did one we had about 55 people turn up with their tools - one guy came with a mini digger.

"There are lots of parts of the school that are there because people have come in and done it."

There are so many things at the school worthy to shout about - all areas being redecorated, a new library coming soon, trips to local businesses, the Shakespeare by the Sea production, but it was the #InspiredToLearn weeks that really caught my eye.

"When I came here, we had a challenge with extended writing, and that's why we did the first big makeover day," Mr Spracklen added.

"The first one we did was in December 2017 and we did Narnia. We converted the corridor by installing a wardrobe and put some fake fur coats in there and the children pushed through the coats and went into this winter wonderland.

"It was amazing and caught everyone's attention. But it didn't go beyond that morning.

"It inspired us to go deeper and grow the work we're doing and year on year we've built on it… it's become something children can become emersed in. We can have a whole week of inspired learning."

The year after they did Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and even had governors on the roof dressed as chimney sweeps and a snow machine. This was followed the next year by transforming the corridor into a North Pole research facility, complete with a gritter outside the school.

Then along came Covid, but this didn't deter the school's creativity in inspiring its pupils.

Mr Spracklen said: "We converted the whole hall into a winter wonderland, we bought a 20ft Christmas tree - the same size as the Queen's. We put on the theme of the Grinch stole Christmas.

"That became a whole month of learning and we created a feature length film [which can be seen at the top of this page]."

And this year was Arctic Airways. Despite the weather meaning the hot air balloon booked as part of the week couldn't be inflated, both children and staff still had a lot of fun. It's also not the end of the hot air balloon!

There's a lot more to come from the school, which may include a JCB and a street dancing Rolls Royce engineer.

Mr Spracklen has branded the school, 'the greatest school on earth' but insists it is not about being better than any other school.

"Every child should feel their school is the best in the world," he said.

"It's not a competition, it's about celebrating and working with the communities in which we serve."

Mr Spracklen's passion is evident and he cites Steve Jobs - "The only way to do great work is to love what you do".

He added: "I feel incredibly proud to be headteacher here, it's a real honour and privilege.

"I stood as a 16-year-old on the playground, speaking to Peter Farrington about becoming a teacher and now I stand in that place where he once stood as headteacher. I have to pinch myself sometimes, it's quite surreal."

Looking to the future Mr Spracklen would like to share what they are doing at The Prince of Wales with other schools.

He added: "We already do quite a significant amount of training and support for other schools, very much the vision for the future is that we continue to share our best practice through multiple channels.

"We want others to have the same infectious attitudes about learning that we do and were passionate to share that at every level.

"Our role in the future is we want to share our best practice and secure our outstanding rating in Ofsted."

There is so much more to be said about the inspiring things taking place at The Prince of Wales - like Deliverpow and the fun that was had during the UEFA Euro 2020 Championships but I can't fit it all in. We are so lucky to have it and Mr Spracklen in our town.

Don't forget to sign up to our newsletter below!

You can submit your own news straight to Dorchester Nub News by using the 'Nub It' button on our home page. This can also be done for events on our What's On page and businesses, groups and organisations on our Local Listings page , also by using the 'Nub It' button.

Please like and follow our online newspaper on your favourite social media channel. You can find us @DorchesterNubNews on Facebook and @DorchesterNub Twitter.