Richard Bradford, headteacher of Dorothy Stringer Secondary School in Brighton, has agreed to take up the role of Executive Head Teacher for both Dorothy Stringer School and Longhill High School for the remainder of the academic year.
The move follows the resignation of Longhill’s headteacher, Haydn Stride last week for personal reasons, following a disappointing Ofsted and a dip in GCSE results.
A statement released by Dorothy Stringer today says Mr Bradford will work as an executive headteacher over the two schools, with acting headteachers in Dorothy Stringer and Longhill.
The arrangement is a temporary one until the end of August 2016 to enable the appointment of a new headteacher for Longhill. Mr Bradford will spend fifty percent of his time in each school.
The statement says: “The move has the full support of governors and senior leadership teams in both schools and of Brighton and Hove City Council’s children’s services team.
“The idea of executive heads running more than one school is not new in the city. Successful examples of this approach are Benfield and Hangleton primary schools, as well as Hove Park secondary and West Blatchington primary, and Coldean and Coombe Road primary schools.
“The arrangement is in line with the city’s school improvement strategy, which promotes school to school support between schools and for schools.
“Secondary schools have worked as a partnership for a number of years, with staff at all levels working together across the city to challenge each other and to share best practice.
“Through this strategy GCSE results in the city were the most improved in the country this year.”
Mr Bradford said: “I am looking forward to working in collaboration with the staff and governors at Longhill School and I am certain that this collaborative arrangement will work for the benefit of students at both schools.’
“I am completely confident that Dorothy Stringer will be in good hands on the days that I am not in school.’
“We have a very experienced senior leadership team who will be able to continue to drive the school forward. We are fortunate to have extremely professional staff and I believe that the school will continue to thrive and that students will be well supported and continue to make good progress during this temporary arrangement.’
“I know that all my secondary colleagues are committed to the best education possible for all students in the city and I will be able to draw on the resources and experience of other schools in our partnership over the next few months.’
The chair of governors of Dorothy Stringer, Derek Swindells said: “We fully support the idea of a working in partnership for the good of the ‘city child’ and our secondary schools working in collaboration to support school improvement.’
“Richard is an extremely good headteacher and we are very confident that he will be able to lead both schools successfully.”
Jo Cassidy, acting headteacher of Longhill High School, said that previous collaborations between Longhill and other schools within the city had been both beneficial and successful. “I’m very much looking forward to the opportunity of working with Richard” she added.
The chair of governors at Longhill, Martin Andrews, said: “Richard has a well-deserved reputation as an excellent headteacher. We’re delighted our school will benefit from his drive and leadership skills for the rest of this academic year.”
