PARENTS turned out in force to hear the vision for the future of Colne Valley Specialist Arts College this week.
More than 300 parents of existing and prospective pupils attended meetings held on Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
Colne Valley was put into special measures after a decline in standards and has been twinned with Mirfield Free Grammar as an example to follow.
Maggie Dunn, acting head teacher at Colne Valley and one of the Mirfield management team, spoke to parents to alleviate some of their concerns. She then outlined the way forward to make the Linthwaite secondary school outstanding.
Having inherited a poor record for parent communication , the new school leaders are keen to engage parents and to harness their support and energy.
The following evening the school hosted a meeting for Year 5 and 6 parents from local feeder schools.
This was equally well attended, with again around 170 parents being involved.
This time Ms Dunn was jointed by Lorraine Barker, National Leader of Education and Principal of Mirfield Free Grammar along with members of the senior team and achievement coordinators.
Ms Dunn said: “It has been fantastic this week to see the response from our parents to meet with us to discuss plans for the future.
“There is clearly a huge will in the community to move the school forward.
“I would like to thank all of our parents for attending and look forward to working with them in the future to build an outstanding school for the Colne Valley.”
Leaders intend to incorporate the feedback and comments into future plans.
Parents will have another opportunity to view the school on the open evening scheduled for October 10.
Ms Dunn and Ms Barker were brought in by Kirklees Council to improve Colne Valley following a damning Ofsted report and departure of the previous headteacher Carol Gormley.
