Almondbury Community School
History
In April 2014, the Kirklees Council Cabinet approved the merger of the Almondbury High School and Language College, the Almondbury Junior School, and Greenside Infant and Nursery School, "as an all-through school for children aged between 3 and 16 years". The three schools were combined following extensive consultation with parents and other community members.
Following a 2006 Ofsted report that rated the Almondbury High School and Language College as Grade 3 "Satisfactory" overall, the 2009 and 2012 reports gave a rating of Grade 2 "Good".
The reports of 2015 and 2017 rated the combined Almondbury Community School as Grade 3 "Requires Improvement" overall. A monitoring visit by Ofsted after the 2015 inspection noted "significant" positive changes in leadership, systems, teaching quality and governorship under a school improvement plan.
In 2018, Ofsted visited again concluding that sufficient progress had not been made. A list of issues was published and Kirklees was required to issue a recovery plan. A monitoring visit by Ofsted, confirmed the recovery plan was adequate.
Leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures. The local authority’s statement of action is fit for purpose. The school’s improvement plan is fit for purpose.
In 2018, Chair of the school Governors was Gill Goodswen, a former president of the National Union of Teachers (NUT).
The secondary department was closed in September 2020, while the primary school department converted to academy status and was renamed Hill View Academy. The school is now sponsored by the Impact Education Multi Academy Trust.
Almondbury controversy
On 25 October 2018, an assault took place on a 15-year-old student at Almondbury Community School; this was widely reported after a video recording of the assault was posted on social media.
Prime Minister Theresa May commented, "most people were sickened and angered" by the video clip; she went on to praise the public for the response, and for setting up a crowdfunding appeal for the youngster's family.
References
- ^ "Hill View Academy". Get information about schools. GOV.UK. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ^ Kirklees Council, Directorate for Children & Adults School Admissions (25 March 2014). "Kirklees Consultation on School Admission Arrangements for 2015/16" (PDF). kirklees.gov.uk. p. 4. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
- ^ "New 'super school' plan considered". BBC News. 15 September 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
- ^ Whitwam, Linda (5 October 2013). "Almondbury super school is not a done deal says Kirklees Council as consultation gets underway". Huddersfield Examiner. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
- ^ Atkinson, Neil (9 September 2013). "'Super school' plan to combine Almondbury's high school, junior school and Greenside I&N - what do you think?". Huddersfield Examiner. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
- ^ Almondbury Community School, Ofsted reports 2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2018
- ^ Monitoring visit, Ofsted, 5 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2018
- ^ Whitwam, Linda, "Ofsted is full of praise for improvements at Almondbury Community School", Kirklees News, 2 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2018
- ^ "Ofsted Report 2018". ofsted.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
- ^ Sutcliffe, Robert (6 December 2018). "Inspectors make emergency visit to crisis-hit Almondbury School". Examiner Live. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
- ^ "Ofsted Monitoring Visit 2019". ofsted.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright
- ^ Lavigueur, Nick (30 November 2018). "Is behaviour at Almondbury Community School out of control? Third video emerges of fight on fields". Examiner Live. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
- ^ "Special measures monitoring inspection of Almondbury Community School" (PDF). hillviewacademy.co.uk. November 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
- ^ "Teenager to be charged with assault after 'Syrian refugee' is allegedly attacked at Huddersfield school". The Telegraph. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
- ^ "Theresa May blasts sickening video of Syrian boy 'waterboarded' in UK school". The Mirror. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.