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School with two heads: Rachel Jones and David Ashley in 2005
Parrs Wood faces special measures
Marie Burchill8/11/2007
A FLAGSHIP south Manchester high school is in crisis talks following an Ofsted inspection.
And it’s believed Parrs Wood High School will officially be put on special measures when the Ofsted report is published within the next three weeks.
Community leaders have said that the school – which was once labelled one of the biggest and most successful schools in England – has hit ‘crisis’ point.
Inspectors entered the school last week to carry out their report.
At the end of the week they made a verbal report to senior management, the results of which were released to staff and governors from the Didsbury school earlier this week.
Sources close to the school say the report has highlighted significant concerns surrounding the leadership and management of Parrs Wood.
The school is currently under the dual leadership of heads, David Ashley and Rachel Jones, who together are being paid a salary of almost £200,000.
Mr Ashley would not confirm the school is going to be put on special measures. He said: “Ofsted inspected the school last week. They have gone away to consider the evidence. We will listen to their judgements when the report is published.”
When the Reporter asked Mr Ashley whether Ofsted, in its verbal report, had said they were considering putting the school on special measures, the headteacher said: “I can’t say anymore than that. All I will say is that we were inspected.”
Liberal Democrat councillor Alison Firth called the Reporter and said she had been told the school was going to be put on special measures.
Coun Firth, who is the opposition member for education, said: “This is a total crisis for the school. When you think about how much the headteachers are being paid, it really isn’t value for money. Parents and pupils at the school are going to be devastated by the news.”
A teacher at the school also contacted The Reporter and said that the school had been in a downward spiral for the last two years. The source added: “There are a lot of very good teachers at the school, but now we have gone from a school of excellence to one considering special measures.”
Pauline Newman, Manchester City Council’s director of children’s services, said that ‘radical improvement’ is needed at the school.
She said: “We are fully committed to driving up standards in all of our schools to ensure that children and young people in the city have access to and can benefit from high quality educational provision.
“Wherever weaknesses are identified, or there is shown to be a strategic failure of the leadership and management of a school to secure a high enough standard of provision for its pupils, we will not hesitate to move to strengthen leadership and governance within that school to ensure that it makes the necessary progress within a very short period of time.
“We would of course also look carefully at the statutory powers of intervention open to us as a local authority and how best they might be used in order to achieve rapid turnround and improvement at the school.
“We understand that the recent Ofsted inspection of Parrs Wood High School - which has not been published yet and is still subject to moderation - has raised significant concerns and that we need to secure radical improvement in provision at the school before Ofsted’s next monitoring visit.”
Withington MP John Leech said: “It is truly shocking to think about Parrs Wood being put into special measures.
“I know my colleagues on the governing body have raised concerns about the senior management structure of the school previously, but now it is time to take decisive action to deal with the problems identified by Ofsted, and re-focus on providing a first class education for the pupils.”
Another source who has close ties with the school, said: “There are severe problems within the management at Parrs Wood and they are just not able to work together.
“There are some members of staff who just aren’t being listened to.”
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