Colne Valley High School is on the verge of taking a historic step forward.

If all the Is are dotted and Ts crossed on the legal documents today, the school will become an academy next Tuesday, April 1. If not, it will happen on May 1 - either way, the school will move out of Special Measures on conversion.

School leaders and governors are looking forward to a bright new future for Huddersfield’s biggest school. It will, however, be without its popular headteacher, Maggie Dunn, who steps down at the end of May to take over a headship in Doncaster.

Colne Valley High School, Acting Head Teacher Maggie Dunn
Colne Valley High School, Acting Head Teacher Maggie Dunn

Last night The Mirfield Free Grammar (MFG) principal Lorraine Barker met with staff from Colne Valley and MFG to explain who will be in charge. Under the new arrangements, Mrs Barker will be executive principal of both academies, similar to Andy Williams’ role as executive headteacher at Holmfirth High and North Huddersfield Trust schools.

From next Tuesday, she will also become principal of Colne Valley High until a new head takes over in September. The school is currently working on advertising the position.

Although the academy conversion is unpopular with many parents, the school was left with no choice once it has been placed in Special Measures in December 2012. Government policy is to convert all schools in Special Measures to academies.

In some respects, Colne Valley was fortunate that the outstanding Mirfield Free Grammar accepted Kirklees Council’s request to step in last April with a proposal to form a joint academy trust. For legal reasons, this had to be called a multi-academy trust, although trustees have promised they have no plans to expand to include other schools. The alternative could have been a multi-academy trust based hundreds of miles away.

MFG brings people with a wide range of business and educational skills to the new Multi Academy Trust (MAT), which will sit above the governing body of both schools. Under rigorous new rules, the trustees had to prove they had the financial acumen to take on Colne Valley and the outstanding loans from the PFI (private finance initiative).

Chairman Jennifer Ryan’s impressive track record as finance director for multinational companies, including Ford, Raleigh cycles and Ross Young’s frozen foods, will be reassuring to parents at time when funding is an issue for all schools.

TIMELINE:

December 2012 - Colne Valley is placed in Special Measures by Ofsted after posting its best-ever GCSE results

April 2013 - MFG, in the form of Lorraine Barker and Maggie Dunn, accept Kirklees Council’s invitation to step in. They introduce some radical changes

September 2013, after pressure from parents, the school drops the ‘Colne Valley Specialist Arts College’ name and reverts to Colne Valley High School

October 2013 - Parents ask searching questions of school leaders at a series of public meetings

December 2013 - Ofsted inspectors announce that teaching, tracking systems and the outlook for students are all improving

April 2014 - Colne Valley High converts to an academy run by a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) formally linked to MFG

Colne Valley High School, Huddersfield
Colne Valley High School, Huddersfield

It’s been a tough 15 months for everyone involved with Colne Valley High School.

The community was in a state of shock in December 2012 when the former pride of the valley was placed into the dreaded Special Measures by Ofsted.

Despite achieving its best-ever GCSE results, Ofsted inspectors believed that the school and its pupils were underachieving.

Some of the lessons failed to challenge the students and there was a small, rowdy element who were disruptive. Bright children were often embarrassed by their classmates for putting their hand up to answer questions in class.

Fast forward to March 2014 and the school is emerging from that dark place.

Attitudes, expectations, teaching, behaviour and links with the community have all improved - although there is still much work to be done to realise the leaders’ aim of becoming first Good and then Outstanding.

They are, however, confident that the radical changes they have introduced are starting to show results - and that this summer’s GCSE results will reflect that by being the best ever recorded.

In its report of March 14, Ofsted said: “The school is likely to reach its targets, which are suitably challenging, for the proportion of Year 11 students gaining at least five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and mathematics.

“Results of early entries give the school confidence in its prediction that over 80% of students will gain GCSE grades A* to C in English. The target for the proportion of students who will make at least the expected rate of progress in this subject is also likely to be reached.”

Headteacher Maggie Dunn outlined some of the changes: teachers shadowing colleagues from the outstanding Mirfield Free Grammar, higher standards of behaviour, rewards for good behaviour, work and leadership, more parents’ evenings and progress reports sent home every seven weeks on every child.

She said: “We have rebuilt the whole infrastructure inside the school, and our aim is to ensure that all students achieve or exceed their potential.

“This school is unique. It belongs to the valley, there are not a lot of students from out of the area. We have raised the aspirations of both staff and pupils and pride in the school is slowly returning.”

Referring to the formal link with MFG, executive principal Lorraine Barker said: “I am looking forward to the two schools continuing their very, very positive partnership. “It is an exciting time, we want to get Colne Valley pupils into the best universities, the best apprenticeships. It is a very competitive world out there and we want the best life opportunities for our children. Onward and upwards.”

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