Norma Redfearn
| Norma Redfearn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mayor of North Tyneside | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2 May 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Linda Arkley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Wallsend |
| Political party | Labour |
| Residence | Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear |
Norma Redfearn is a Labour politician, now directly-elected mayor of North Tyneside, winning on the first ballot, on Thursday 2 May 2013, with 55.35% of the votes cast on a turnout of 32.07%.[1]
A daughter of a shipyard worker, Redfearn left school at 14 but later achieved a BPhil at Newcastle University.[2] After a variety of teaching roles, she left Wharrier Street Juniors, where she was deputy head, to take on the headteacher role at West Walker Primary School (June 1986 – July 2000) on the edge of Newcastle upon Tyne.[2] She became the first headteacher to receive the prize for Public Management Leadership, awarded to her by the Office for Public Management in 1997.[2] Soon after, she was also chosen by the think-tank Demos to serve as an example of civic entrepreneurship.[3]
Redfearn held North Tyneside's Riverside ward from 2004[4] until her election as mayor. Previously, between 2005 and 2009, she was Cabinet Member for Children and Young People on North Tyneside Council.[3][5]
Controversies
Kings Priory Academy
One of Redfearn's first acts as elected mayor, in May 2013, was to make a legal challenge to the formation of the proposed Kings Priory Academy, a merger of Tynemouth's fee paying Kings School and Priory Primary School. Redfearn said, "The impact of the proposed Kings Priory Academy on the wider school system in North Tyneside has not been properly considered". A rebuttal from the Woodard Academies Trust chief executive David Bilton[6] said: "It is inaccurate and highly disingenuous of the Mayor to suggest that consultation has not been carried out to anything but the highest of standards." Both local[7][8][9] and national[10][11] press coverage showed that Redfearn's decision to make this legal challenge has proved to be controversial. Complaints are being made by some parents in the area who had not been informed and by some local schools who had concerns about the effect on other well-performing schools in the area. The merger was seen by some as a way of reducing the debt of Kings School [12] as it was losing many pupils due to the recession. Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove has approved the merger.[13]