Latest news with #headteacher
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
School praised for 'nurturing, safe, and inclusive environment' in Estyn report
A school has been praised for its "nurturing, safe, and inclusive environment" in a recent Estyn inspection. Caerleon Comprehensive School, located on Cold Bath Road, was given the positive feedback following the inspection in February 2025. The secondary school has 1,468 pupils on roll, including 256 in the sixth form. Inspectors found that "most pupils make at least suitable progress" and "some achieve strong progress due to high challenge and skilled teaching." (Image: Caerleon Comprehensive School) The school was also praised for its "supportive, respectful, and well-managed" classrooms, and the "strong progress" made by pupils with additional learning needs. The inspection report highlighted the wide range of academic and vocational subjects offered by the school, particularly in Key Stage 4 and the sixth form. (Image: Caerleon Comprehensive School) The school was commended for its collaboration with other schools to broaden sixth form provision, and for promoting diversity and Welsh culture through initiatives such as Cynefin days and Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen. The report also praised the school's "strong safeguarding culture" and "effective pastoral care," as well as the "high engagement and maturity" shown by sixth formers, as well as spotlighting the contribution made by the school governors. (Image: Caerleon Comprehensive School) The headteacher, appointed in November 2022, was described as "strategic, compassionate, and impactful," with inspectors noting that her leadership has boosted staff morale and improved teaching quality. However, the report did identify some areas for improvement, such as persistent absenteeism, limited numeracy development, and a lack in the use of Welsh outside lessons. (Image: Caerleon Comprehensive School) There was also calls for improvement on the quality of feedback and number of pupils making writing errors due to lack of "expectation to self-correct" and "inconsistencies in marking". The school has been asked to improve the attendance of pupils eligible for free school meals, refine self-evaluation and improvement planning, and expand opportunities to develop numeracy and Welsh language skills across the curriculum. (Image: Caerleon Comprehensive School) Headteacher Lucy Purcell said: "I am very proud of all the students and staff at our school in relation to our very positive Estyn inspection report. "I am particularly proud of the lessons the Estyn team watched where they observed students making 'strong and brisk progress' and of the 'strong culture of safeguarding' they recognised at our school." (Image: Caerleon Comprehensive School) She continued: "Our dedicated and skilled governing body are also recognised through a 'spotlight' in the report and I am very grateful to those volunteers for all their hard work in supporting our school. "We know there is still more work to be done on our priorities to ensure we are the very best we can be and we will continue to work towards these priorities in order to maximise the potential of all young people in our care."
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Primary school shut as cracks discovered in walls
A primary school in Stoke-on-Trent says it has been forced to close after the discovery of cracks in the walls of the building. Steve Martin, headteacher of Goldenhill Primary Academy, said on Thursday the decision had been made to close the whole school as a precautionary measure. The issue was not related to asbestos, he said, and apologised for the inconvenience caused. "As always, the safety of our children and staff is our top priority," he said. "Please be assured that we are working closely with the relevant authorities to resolve the matter as quickly and safely as possible." He said the cracks had appeared over the past 48 hours and required investigation by structural specialists. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. Primary school shut after ceiling tiles fall School structural issues will be repaired Council to spend £500,000 on urgent school repairs Goldenhill Primary Academy
BBC News
10-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Goldenhill Primary Academy shut as cracks discovered in walls
A primary school in Stoke-on-Trent says it has been forced to close after the discovery of cracks in the walls of the Martin, headteacher of Goldenhill Primary Academy, said on Thursday the decision had been made to close the whole school as a precautionary issue was not related to asbestos, he said, and apologised for the inconvenience caused."As always, the safety of our children and staff is our top priority," he said. "Please be assured that we are working closely with the relevant authorities to resolve the matter as quickly and safely as possible."He said the cracks had appeared over the past 48 hours and required investigation by structural specialists. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Teacher who works 'tirelessly' for school community named 'education hero' at awards
The popular winner of the Education Hero of the Year award is Lisa Hemingway, headteacher at St Bridget's C of E Primary School in Cockermouth. Her nominator said: 'Lisa works tirelessly for the school and the children, she goes above and beyond. 'The school is a small, nurturing environment where the children thrive. Lisa has a box of prizes for the children. When they have achieved something (whether it be good work, trying hard or demonstrating kindness to their classmates) they can go to Lisa's office to choose a prize. 'Lisa supports the Friends of St Bridget's PTA in all of our fundraising efforts. For every fair or event, Lisa bakes boxes and boxes of cakes to donate. 'She spends her evenings carrying out her headteacher work and still has time to support the planning and running of fundraising events like school discos, school fairs, bingo, film nights and even the Brigham 10k. 'If there is a fancy dress event, Lisa is always in full costume and she congratulates the children on their costumes. The children in the school love Lisa and they are kind to each other, they look after each other and they are a joy to be around. 'Lisa puts the children at the centre of everything. When it snowed one year, Lisa contacted all of the parents to inform them that the children should wrap up warm and bring in their sledges because they were going to spend the morning on the school field playing in the snow. Such an important and rare experience for them. 'We are so very lucky to have her as our headteacher.' Lisa praised her 'wonderful team following the award win She said: 'I think its amazing, I really didn't think I would win. 'Everybody in education is education heroes, everybody in your school: from your kick to your teaching assistant, secretaries, teachers, everybody is education heroes.' Lisa said that the children were 'really excited' to hear she had been nominated, she said: 'I think they'll be really proud, they know I'm coming here today and they were excited when they found out.'
Telegraph
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Teacher endorsed petition wrongly accusing headteacher of racism
A former PE teacher who encouraged pupils to sign a petition wrongly accusing the headteacher of racism has been banned from the profession. Joshua Adusei, 31, told the headteacher of Harris Academy Tottenham in north-east London that he would 'get him out' if he did not resign. He set up a petition, which received more than 6,000 signatures before it was ended, said the headteacher had permanently excluded three black students from the school after one month in the role. He also claimed his zero-tolerance behaviour policy was racist. 'I am going to start a petition to get you out' The Metropolitan Police received reports of four death threats from the school, the Guardian reported. Giving evidence to the panel, the headteacher said Mr Adusei came to his office on April 19, 2021, and told him he and others did not think he was doing a good job, and that he had come to request his resignation. He said there was no attempt by Mr Adusei to specify his grievances or the basis upon which he was asking him to resign at the meeting, but he said that 'if you don't resign I am going to start a petition to get you out', which left him feeling threatened. Another witness told the panel the following day, they saw Mr Adusei and another member of staff in the playground with around 10-20 students standing around them, which was 'unusual' as he should not have been on duty for their lunch. Suspended A Year 10 pupil who was stopped by the witness after walking past with their phone out - which was against school policy - said 'not gonna lie sir, a member of staff has told me to get it out to sign a petition'. Mr Adusei was suspended the same day. Addressing the claims in the petition, the headteacher told the panel he had only been directly involved in excluding two students and that the decision was taken in consultation with various other management staff. He said there was 'no basis' for asserting that his actions disproportionately affected BAME or SEN students. A separate Crowdfunder page, which claimed Mr Adusei had suffered 'a brutal exclusion and an attempted silencing and tarnishing of his reputation,' due to the incident also raised £320. 'Threatening online abuse' The panel found Mr Adusei had made 'deliberate and pre-determined decisions to publish untrue and/or misleading comments about Colleague A (the headteacher) and then to manipulate the actions of children for his own private purposes', which it considered to be 'an abuse of his position and an abuse of trust.' It had received evidence that the headteacher suffered 'threatening online abuse' as a direct of the petition, which had also led to plain clothes police officers being placed at the school gates. The panel also heard that Scotland Yard had contacted the individual to implement enhanced protection measures as a result of the petition. Further allegations that Mr Adusei had failed to complete welfare calls to 26 pupils in his tutor group and failed to teach online lessons on two occasions in January 2021 were also found to have been proven. 'Misconduct of a serious nature' The panel was satisfied that Mr Adusei's behaviour 'amounted to misconduct of a serious nature which fell significantly short of the standards expected of the profession.' Mr Adusei, who had been employed at the school since 2019, provided no mitigation to the panel or evidence of material insight or remorse for his actions. In a written conclusion on Wednesday, decision maker Sarah Buxcey, acting on behalf of the Education Secretary, banned Mr Adusei from teaching indefinitely subject to a five-year review period. She said: 'In this case, factors mean that allowing a lesser review period is not sufficient to achieve the aim of maintaining public confidence in the profession. 'These elements are the seriousness of the findings involving safeguarding failures and the lack of evidence of either insight or remorse.'
