Willenhall E-ACT Academy: Crisis-hit school to draft in extra staff
A crisis-hit school where pupils pelted Ofsted inspectors with food and teachers walked out amid safety fears is drafting in 20 new staff to help bring things under control.
Bosses at Willenhall E-ACT Academy – one of Walsall’s biggest schools with 1,340 pupils – are battling back as they aim to draft in experienced teachers to help reverse its fortunes.
A total of 20 new staff will be taken on including a new-look management team and there will also be extra pastoral staff to help patrol unruly corridors at the school in Furzebank Way.
It received a scathing Ofsted report earlier this year, which also revealed how 70 per cent of teachers left during 2015 and 2016 and one in three were persistently absent in Year 7 to 11. It was a given an inadequate rating and put in special measures.
Problems worsened at the school – which now has 79 teachers – with staff going on strike on Tuesday.
A spokesman said: “We take seriously the concerns raised by union members, and believe that these are being addressed at pace and with urgency.
“A raft of changes and improvements are already under way, including the appointment of experienced staff, a reconstituted senior leadership team, expanded by five staff and another 20 new members of staff altogether.”
He said the school had also appointed three additional pastoral staff to patrol the corridors and reduce internal truanting and there was now an increased presence of the senior leadership team during change over periods, break and lunchtimes.
The behaviour policy has also been overhauled, with all staff trained in April.
He added: “The impact of these changes is already being felt – attendance for specific groups has improved and persistent absence, truancy, permanent exclusions and behaviour incidents have all reduced considerably. This is only the start of the work that needs to happen to turn around Willenhall.”There is still further work to do, but we believe that these changes are now setting us on the right footing for a more positive future.”
An urgent letter was this week sent to the National Schools Commissioner by Walsall North MP Eddie Hughes urging action.
In the letter to Sir David Carter, he said: “The Ofsted report for Willenhall E-Act Academy was inadequate in every category. This clearly isn’t good enough.”
He added: “I would be grateful if you could meet with me as a matter of urgency to discuss this matter in detail.”
The Ofsted report published in May rated the school ‘inadequate’, the lowest possible rating, in every category.
