Greenwood Academy, Birmingham

Greenwood Academy
Type Academy
Location Farnborough Road
Castle Vale
Birmingham
West Midlands
B35 7NL
England Coordinates: 52°31′12″N 1°46′56″W / 52.5200°N 1.7823°W
DfE number 330/4006
DfE URN 139048 Tables
Ofsted Reports Pre-academy reports
Students 871
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–16
Website www.greenwoodacademy.org

Greenwood Academy (formerly Castle Vale School and Specialist Performing Arts College) is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in Castle Vale, Birmingham, England.

The school opened in new premises in 1967. The buildings were completed and officially opened in 1969.[1] It was built to serve the large new housing estate which was in the final stages of construction at this time. Later the school gained Performing Arts College specialist status.

At the time of its last OFSTED inspection in 2010, there were a total of 810 students,[2] followed by a Section 8 Inspection in Jan 2012. Doubts were expressed about the validity of the latter as members had called in the NASUWT to address problems with the management of the school at the time.

In 2012 the school management frustrated attempts by the NASUWT to solve the difficulties at the school, and union members took strike action. A one-day strike was held on March 7, 2012 which stimulated action by the Local Authority to resolve the problems. However, before the authority's recommendations could be implemented, further strikes were held as the School NASUWT representative, Ben Ball, was singled out by the Head for speaking to the media and another member was sent on gardening leave. An independent investigation cleared the union representative of the accusations made and in May the Head resigned as the school started the procedure to become an academy.[3][4][5][6][7]

The school converted to academy status in January 2013, and was renamed Greenwood Academy. The school is sponsored by the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET). The academy was subject to controversy as a result of the new head teacher, Charlotte Blencowe, implementing "tinkle cards" permitting children to leave class a maximum of once per week to go to the toilet,[8] a number of different hand signals to communicate in class and a strict policy over school uniform. Parents protested, and eggs were thrown at teachers.[9]

The school suffered further uncertainty when AET arranged for Miss Blencowe to leave after only one term to move back to Yorkshire. Their reasons were contradictory, confusing and did not indicate particularly skillful or caring management. The school was managed by Mr Simon Turney and his team from another AET Academy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgrave_High_School) for one term. [10] [11] Ironically during this period of uncertainty, the school achieved its best results ever.[12]

Mr Harry French was appointed Principal in June 2013 and immediately took action to solve the problems the school faced.[13] Under his leadership the school has been subject to an amazing turnaround, with many esteemed visitors expressing compliments, echoing Lord Nash'comment "..the school oozes aspiration".[14] Mr French and the staff have re-established open events and have regained the confidence of the community. The school will start a new sixth form in September 2014 and the school is scheduled to be rebuilt, hopefully in 2017.[15][16]

References

  1. ↑ Birmingham City Archives: Records of Castle Vale School, 1967-1981, (Reference Code: S262)
  2. ↑ http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/103506
  3. ↑ Kat Keogh (2012-03-07). "Teachers walk out at Castle Vale School for Performing Arts". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  4. ↑ Kat Keogh (2012-03-20). "Castle Vale school set for second round of staff strikes". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  5. ↑ Matt Lloyd (2012-03-23). "Parents call for Castle Vale Performing Arts College headteacher to resign". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  6. ↑ Andy Dolan (2012-03-08). "More than 40 teachers at under-achieving school strike over 'dangerous' pupils | Mail Online". Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  7. ↑ Nousratpour, Louise (2012-03-20). "Teachers walk out after school targets rep / Britain / Britain/World / Home - Morning Star". Morningstaronline.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
  8. ↑ Birmingham Mail: Pupils at Castle Vale Performing Arts College told to use 'tinkle' passes if they need toilet
  9. ↑ Daily Mail: 'I'm missing a super learning opportunity because I need a tinkle': School infuriates parents with bizarre new initiatives including toilet passes that can only be used once a week
  10. ↑ http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/trouble-hit-castle-vale-performing-arts-379071
  11. ↑ http://tyburnmail.com/2012/11/11/aet-charlotte-blencowe-to-move-to-yorkshire-school/
  12. ↑ http://tyburnmail.com/2013/08/22/great-start-for-greenwood-15-rise-in-top-gcses-for-new-academy/
  13. ↑ http://tyburnmail.com/2013/06/20/greenwood-academy-principal-harry-french-we-have-tough-decisions-ahead/
  14. ↑ http://www.jackdromey.org/education-minister-lord-nash-visits-greenwood-academy
  15. ↑ http://tyburnmail.com/2014/06/16/its-official-greenwood-gets-green-light-for-sixth-form-from-september/
  16. ↑ http://tyburnmail.com/2014/05/01/greenwood-academy-boost-from-governments-school-building-programme/

External links