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Secondary education

Academy - what if there are major problems?

3 replies

mindnumbing · 27/01/2013 21:48

I am a regular but have name changed for this.

DCs go to an average size secondary school in a small town. This is not a good school. It has been in and out of special measures. It last came out of special measures a couple of years ago having achieved a 'satisfactory' standard.

There have been a number of problems across the last couple of years. In particular I was aware that there were problems in my oldest DC's year relating to issues with teaching quality, loss of coursework, classroom management, course management.

Each problem has been dealt with individually but slowly. This lack of speed in dealing with problems meant that time was wasted. This resulted in the year 11 having to cover extensive ground which should have been covered in year 10. For my DC this affected 4 subjects.

In my opinion the problems indicate a significant management failure. The HT does not take responsibility for the problems. He has claimed that he didnt know about problems and seemed surprised to be told that it was his job to know.

Oldest DC has left but I still have other DCs at this school. I dont want the problems to keep recurring.

So should I complain and if so who to? The school recently turned into an academy. Should I complain to Ofsted? To the academic trust? To my MP?

Does anyone have any advice or experience please?

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prh47bridge · 28/01/2013 00:01

From what you say I presume you've already tried the head teacher. As that hasn't produced results your next port of call is the governors. They are still accountable for running the school. The fact it is an academy makes no difference to that. If you don't get a satisfactory response from the governors you should complain to Ofsted.

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mindnumbing · 28/01/2013 22:33

Many thanks prh47bridge, I will follow your sage advice.

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alanyoung · 29/01/2013 19:23

There are two academy's near us and they have both been on special measures. Don't trust what the Government tells you!

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