STATEMENT: The Whitehaven Academy - 02.12.2016

Posted on December 2, 2016 by Bright Tribe

A statement from the Board of Bright Tribe Trust.

We are all disappointed by the recent Ofsted report at The Whitehaven Academy and particularly that it has come at a time that many, including Ofsted itself, acknowledge that we appear to have turned a corner. There appears to be a solid foundation for improvement and all seem to have acknowledged strong and appropriate leadership.

We remain absolutely committed to improving the quality of Teaching and Learning at The Whitehaven Academy and we will support any reasonable strategy to raise the funding to enhance the infrastructure, no one is arguing, least of all Bright Tribe, that the buildings and teaching environment is of a high enough standard.

We understand that others are also disappointed in pace of progress however we have previously said that in any major scale 5-year change programme there is a high likelihood of setbacks before improvements are seen. In the interests of focusing on what will be most constructive, and supporting positive efforts being made, we do wish to correct information that is untrue.

Whitehaven School had been performing at an unacceptable level for over 10 years, the buildings have been in decline for at least 15 years.

When Bright Tribe was asked to take on the School we saw a deeply dysfunctional school that had been in a long cycle of decline.

It was a difficult decision to take on the school because we knew we had at least 5 years of challenge ahead of us and that during this period it may appear to get worse before it got better.

There was a very large trading deficit, the school was losing about £400k per annum and this had been the case for a number of years.

The school buildings themselves were visibly in a poor state and were not even statutorily compliant.

We were left with a stark choice, if we did not take this school it was unlikely that anyone else would and the school would have to close. This remains the case. However, there are not 700 spare school places in Whitehaven to accommodate the children. We met a number of proud parents, staff and especially pupils who were proud of their school and immensely frustrated at the slow painful demise.

The buildings

The Trust invested immediately from its own resources and those provided by its sponsor to ensure statutory compliance to make the school safe. In addition, the Trust resolved the flooding issues and created a more suitable Sixth Form Facility.

Over the first 2 years we spent in excess of £500k on these areas and received the same amount in sponsor support.

We also succeeded with a number of minor capital works bids where we receive funding direct from the Education Funding Agency (EFA). These amounted to £650k.

In addition, we have committed to a further £500k Capital investment from our annual allocation.

We actively engaged with Campus Whitehaven as a potential funding route, and not wishing to go over old ground, the project required £50m and only £34m was available.

We resourced and submitted a number of bids to the EFA for the Schools Rebuilding Programme but were unsuccessful. The EFA do not seem to agree with our assessment of the site.

We absolutely have not given up and we have met with the Secretary of State for Academies twice over the last few months to press our case and we will continue to do so. Any help or support with this area would be most gratefully received.

The condition of the buildings is not in dispute but we inherited at least a decade of decline and mismanagement, this is not Bright Tribe’s fault and it is something we will continue to try and do something about.

Teaching and learning

It is absolutely imperative that we improve the quality of teaching and learning that takes place on a daily basis in our classrooms.

Let’s be clear that we have seen improvement, but not enough, we have dedicated hard working staff, but too much of what is delivered on that daily basis is just not good enough.

It has been said that over our period of operation from January 2014, we have had six headteachers. We have actually had two substantive Heads, with the incumbent Mr Turner being the second. The other Heads were interim short period specialists.

We adopted an approach to school improvement that is proven elsewhere, with skilled practitioners, who had succeeded before. In our other 11 schools this approach has worked very well with some exceptional results.

Over this period, we spent from the Trusts’ resources £325,000 on additional expert school improvement.

Over the same period the school’s own budget was used to resource £185,000 of additional support for the same purpose.

The school budget still runs at an average deficit/loss of £175,000 per year, this loss is absorbed by the Trust on an annual basis.

We have to ask why our approach has not worked when it is so clearly working elsewhere for us.

It is not a lack of resource, money or focus. We have invested more than anyone else has in this school for at least the last 10 years.

We took the decision to change the leadership in the summer to improve the pace of change, we are taking an even harder position on performance, quality in the classroom and as a result further improvements in outcomes for our students.

We saw an 8% rise in the 5A* -Cs, including Maths and English this year to 46% and we saw improvements in Maths and some consistency in English, but we know this is not enough. We also saw improvements in attendance and behaviour.

Unless we can improve what is taking place in the classroom day in, day out we cannot sustain improved outcomes for our pupils.

We are at a critical point on our journey. Our new leader is popular and the impact of a change in approach seems to be yielding early results.

We are aware that change is very difficult and that with some it will make the Trust unpopular, however we are committed to fulfilling our improvement plan and building better outcomes for children.

We remain committed, we need to succeed and it looks like the scene is set for improvement. Now is a time for working together and not pulling apart.

Additional notes

The Trust charges a 5% Central Charge. Other charges are levied for other services. This has always been the case.

Blue Support Services is owned by Michael Dwan. All services provided were in compliance with the Academies Financial Handbook, were provided at cost or less and audited and the accounts of the Trust correctly reflect this.

The EFA and the Trust Auditor have recently confirmed that there is no evidence that funds have not been used for the purpose intended by Parliament. The EFA also decided that there was no matter requiring a Financial Notice to improve.

We absolutely refute that any profit has ever been made by Mr Dwan or any of his companies. The evidence as stated in the accounts clearly shows the reverse, with contributions of £2.6m made directly and indirectly by Mr Dwan to Bright Tribe Trust.