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Schools on government hit list
Katie Fitzpatrick13/ 6/2008
SPRINGHILL High School and Balderstone Technology College have been warned to improve exam results.
The schools are on a government hit list of 638 across the country in which fewer than 30 per cent of pupils achieve at least five good GCSE grades, including English and maths.
Rochdale Council now has 50 days to produce a rescue plan.
Schools that can’t turn their results around face closure or being turned into privately-backed academies.
But education boss Terry Piggott believes this will not apply to Springhill and Balderstone because they are already set to close to make way for a new Trust school on the Springhill site in 2013.
This was recently approved by the government as part of the national Building Schools for the Future scheme, which aims to rebuild, refurbish or replace every secondary school in the country and tackle under-achievement.
Mr Piggott says he will remind the government of their imminent closure.
But meanwhile he is confident that both schools can turn around their fortunes.
Intervention is already underway at Balderstone in the hands of a new management team after the school was placed in special measures following a damning Ofsted report at the end of last year.
It is hoped that Springhill will become a Trust school later this year following consultation with parents and the community.
And Mr Piggott says Balderstone and Springhill will receive a share of £50M government cash, which will be spent over three years across Greater Manchester schools.
He added: "Balderstone was only fractionally below the 30 per cent threshold and Springhill is expected to be put above the threshold in the 2008 results.
"They will keep improving. A lot of change is underway and that has to be given time to work through."
Last year 10 per cent of pupils at Springhill achieved five or more GCSEs at grade C or above, including maths and English, compared with the 41.9 per cent local authority average and 46.7 nationally.
At Balderstone 24 per cent achieved five or more good grades.
Ofsted inspectors found an inconsistent quality of teaching at Balderstone, too many lessons that did not meet students’ needs and standards that remain ‘stubbornly low’.
New executive headteacher Nigel Jepson and acting head Paul Wright replaced previous head Derek Wiggett at Balderstone.
At the time they told the Observer that they expected to bring the troubled school out of special measures within 12 months.
It took just a year for them to drag Carlton-Bolling College in Bradford out of special measures and achieve an outstanding rating.
Balderstone’s executive headteacher Nigel Jepson said: "That is why were were brought to Balderstone, to raise standards.
"Ofsted visited the school in April for the first time since Balderstone was placed in special measures and they said that we are making progress.
"They will return again in the autumn.
"There is an action plan in place here and we are confident that we will meet our targets."
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