A troubled school has started the autumn term with a stand-in head teacher.
Parents at Middle Street Primary School, in Brighton, were told on the first day of the new term that head Rob Cooper would be away – and it was unclear when he might return.
In the meantime, the school’s interim executive board has drafted in Andy Richbell, the head teacher at St Nicolas Primary School, in Portslade, to hold the fort.
Middle Street Primary is the first school in Brighton and Hove to have interim executive board installed in place of the board of governors – a measure restricted to “schools causing concern”.
The school has a six-figure financial deficit and has rejigged its year and class structure to deal with empty places, not least after several parents withdrew children from the school last year. Staff turnover has been reported to be high.
The letter to parents and carers came from Anne Allison, the chair of the interim executive board.
She said: “I am writing to let you know that Rob will be away from school for a period of time.
“It is not known at this stage how long he will be absent for but, in his absence, Andy Richbell, head teacher at St Nicolas Primary School, has kindly agreed to provide leadership to the school on an interim basis.
“We are very grateful to him for ensuring continuity and support for the school during this time.
“We are committed to being as open and transparent as possible. However, there are limits to what we can share regarding any absence of a member of staff and we appreciate your understanding in this matter.
“We will keep you updated and will write again when there is further news on Rob’s return and, in the meantime, thank you in advance for your understanding and for your support for Andy and the senior leadership team.
“Dates will be shared shortly for opportunities to meet members of the interim executive board and we look forward to welcoming you to those sessions.”
This is so sad. I put my kids through Middle St and they all received a caring nurturing and effective education. I do hope that the school will rise again if for no other reason that it’s the oldest educational site in the city starting in the 17th century.
My granddaughter loved the time she spent there, and only left because the family was moving away. Every effort was made to develop her skills and she has very happy memories of the teachers and her classmates. I do hope the current difficulties are successfully resolved.
Andy is doing a great job as interim head and the meeting with the interim governors was really useful. It’s a really qualified group of people who have come in, created a five year plan to get us back into the black with a strong focus on the welfare of the children. It was also really reassuring to see the council supporting the school and confirming that there are no intentions for it to close
It’s a shame the article hasnt mentioned that the new board of governors have told parents they will be getting the school back on its feet and the school is not closing! They have created a five year plan to get the school back on track, they want it to thrive again and seemed committed to the children and staff.
I see a prime building site in the middle of Brighton.
Is the school getting its fair share of resources or is this school being managed out of existence?
We were told that there is no plan to close the school and council wouldn’t put so much effort into it now if they had it on the cards to shut it down.
I think Interim head Andy, and interim board should be reached for comment to make this story more objective.
They also said that they don’t have passwords to log in to school website to update it, only one person apparently had those, and is not releasing them (as a true professional with what’s best for the school in their mind).
Both my kids went here and it was a great community school. But since Rob took over, most of the longstanding staff have left .. why is that?
Please think twice before attacking this school which has been great for my children, one of whom still attends. There are some great teachers there who really work hard. Do the people who fed you this gossip actually have children who attend? I’m concerned these attacks could be a self-fulfilling prophecy: The school is criticised, so less children join, so funding goes down, and so on. The team in charge right now are fantastic and we are very happy with the education our autistic daughter is getting. If these criticisms close the school my daughter will be split up from her friends.
Both my children recently joined Middle street. It fosters a very caring environment with a team of excellent teachers. The community are supportive and on board with what is in reality a school dealing the the same financial strains all schools face. Being a smaller school, those pressures are felt more so. I am a teacher in a secondary in a similar place and we need to recognise that. Middle street, we love you.
No doubt council want land for unaffordable flats .ex teacher and had two children at school.was poorly for nded then .