Jane Leo, 52, is principal of Tadpole Farm Primary Academy, which will open in September at Redhouse Community Centre and later move to its permanent home at Tadpole Farm. She lives near Bristol – a move to the Swindon area is planned – and is married to an IT professional. The couple have three grown-up daughters...

ASK Jane Leo what makes an effective teacher and the answer is instant.

“I think you have to love what you do. Teachers who love learning are some of the best teachers you see.

“Teachers who are fascinated by things which other people would walk past – leaves unfurling, shoots poking out of the ground, an odd arrangement of numbers on a particular day, such as a sequence mirroring itself on a certain date.

“Some teachers notice that all the time, and being able to notice makes a teacher a good leader of learning.

“That’s one side of it, being passionate about learning. The other side of it is that you have to love children.

“You have to be able to find something in every child that is special – and you can.

“I’ve met some amazing children, lots of amazing children, who make me smile when I think about them.”

The principal of Tadpole Farm Primary Academy brings not just teaching and head teaching experience but also some skills picked up during two previous successful careers.

She ascribes much of her success to luck, but comes across as one of those people whose ‘luck’ gets better the harder they work.

Jane is from the Headingly area of Leeds, and is the youngest of five siblings born to a human resources director father and a school bursar mother.

Her father’s work took the family to Tunbridge Wells, Wroughton and Highworth. They later moved near Cambridge, but by that time Jane was at university. Jane attended Ridgeway School, where her early ambition was simply to have a job that provided happiness and fun.

“It’s great being in teaching because that’s what you do with children. They learn through having fun, and so I still get to do messy play even though I’m 52!”

Schooling also brought her into contact with some inspirational teachers.

“There was a pair of Geography teachers at Ridgeway. I still love geography now, and that was down to them. Mr Knill was one of them and I think the other one was Miss Knight, although I’m not positive.

“They loved their subject, and because they loved it they taught it with enthusiasm and passion, and weren’t afraid to follow the questions that you had, rather than just what was in the curriculum or lesson plan for that day.”

School was followed by the University of Southampton and a degree in Economics and Business Economics.

“I wanted to run my own company, or else be on the board of directors of somewhere big.

“So from there I went into financial services and worked my way up from admin to the level just below director.”

Jane remained with the company, London Life, for about a dozen years.

“I was a project manager by the end of my time there, and my last project was at the time when lots of finance companies were downsizing.

“It was a cost-reduction exercise, and I realised that by the end of it I wouldn’t have a job. I’d planned myself out of a job.

“So I set up in business on my own. I did management training and consultancy, mostly over the south of England.

“I did all sorts of things – project management, training courses, working with groups of directors. It was very exciting but didn’t mesh with having three small children, so I stopped when my youngest was about two and...” - she pauses to search for the right word - “...fell into school, really.

“I was asked by a teacher of my eldest daughter if I would help with swimming. I can swim, so I thought I could teach it.

“Not correct. The children didn’t do the things I was saying and I didn’t understand why.

“So I did my swimming teaching qualifications, which solved that problem. The same teacher, who is the reason I am where I am, said, ‘I need a teaching assistant – do you fancy working in the class?’ “We lived round the corner from the school, so I said, ‘Okay.’ It fitted in with playgroup and things like that, and while I was there, the first year, she said, ‘Do you know what? You should do this.’”

That was in 2000. During her first year as a trainee, Jane was nominated for a Teacher of the Year accolade.

“I was really lucky. I had a Year 4 class and an amazing group of teachers and parents. It was an affirmation from the people who were my customers, if you like.”

That first year was at Crossways School in Thornbury and was followed by a year of supply teaching, some time at two other local primaries and then a teaching headship at a village school in Horton, also near Bristol. The latter achieved an ‘outstanding’ rating from inspectors under her leadership.

Early pupils are still in touch and have fond memories of some of the things Jane did. These range from musicals she wrote with another teacher to school projects based around a crashed ‘alien craft’ she arranged to have placed on a playing field, complete with police guard.

The move to Swindon meant a jump from a village school to a much larger one, and Jane admits to having attended the interview for practice as she didn’t expect the post. She was in for a surprise.

“I got it and I couldn’t quite believe it. If I’m honest, I still can’t. It makes me smile every day, because I don’t know any head who doesn’t want to have a brand new school and start it off from scratch. It’s an amazing opportunity.”

Her own feelings about the role tie in neatly with her thoughts about education in general.

“I think children are entitled to be excited about learning, and as teachers it’s up to us to create an environment that allows that to happen.”