THE principal of the fourth-most improved school in the country last year will be taking over a troubled Barnsley secondary school from next week.
Andy Barnett, principal of Manor Croft Academy in Dewsbury, will lead Darton College out of Ofsted’s special measures as it begins the process of converting to academy status under Delta Academies Trust.
He will be executive principal of both schools but will be based at Darton almost full time. Manor Croft has gone from ‘special measures’ to ‘good’ under Delta’s leadership.
Andy said while Delta does have a robust behaviour policy, he doesn’t expect a large spike in exclusions - something which has been seen at other failing Barnsley schools taken over by academy trusts.
“We’ve been really impressed with the pupils in particular,” he said.
“There are some really great kids, and it’s obviously a very supportive school in terms of the parents.
“But there are also a number of very keen and enthusiastic staff who are excited about the change.”
He said last year’s bruising Ofsted report constituted a ‘clear mandate for change’ but said it would not mean drastic and disruptive changes.
“There are some changes that are needed, you can’t have a report like that and not address the issues raised by it, but throughout everything we do we will be communicating with parents and keeping them informed of our plans.”
Andy said there would be a huge step up in the amount of staff training - two hours every week. There will also be support from Delta’s ‘core improvement team’ of experienced and highly-skilled experts who will be coming in to provide support in a number of subjects.
