Teachers strike at Haydon Bridge High School after Ofsted report

Following a January 20 inspection, published last week, Ofsted said Haydon Bridge High School (HBHS) is “failing to provide an acceptable standard of education”. Inspectors highlighted three areas - achievement, attendance and behaviour, and leadership and governance — as requiring urgent improvement.

After the report was published, support staff and teachers at the high school have taken industrial action this week (March 24 to 26), citing "disruptive pupil behaviour" and "the failure of management to act", said the Northumberland district of the National Education Union (NEU).

The school remains open to all students except Year 9.

HBHS said the outcome of Ofsted's inspection action is "very disappointing" and it is "not shying away from that". Northumberland County Council (NCC) added that while they are "disappointed", they are "confident" they can bring about the "necessary improvements".

Teachers are striking "over disruptive pupil behaviour" and "the failure of management to act" (Image: Sean Kelly)

The report found that although safeguarding standards were met, with an "open and positive culture" that helps pupils feel safe, the overall findings raised concerns.

Inspectors said pupils' achievement has been "significantly below the national average for several years", adding that too many are leaving without the knowledge and skills they need for the next stage of their education.

Attendance remains a major issue with too many pupils being regularly absent, particularly in Key Stage 4, and leaders' attempts to improve this area "lack impact", said inspectors. They added, "there are some signs of positive impact" under a new behaviour system, but low-level disruption is still common, and suspension rates remain too high.

While the curriculum is described as "well sequenced and ambitious" by Ofsted, the "quality of teaching is variable" across the subjects.

Leaders "have not acted swiftly or effectively enough" to tackle long-standing weaknesses, while governors "do not challenge leaders sufficiently well". They added that "school leaders do not have the capacity to bring about the necessary improvements".

There are some early signs of improvement, including staff training, curriculum changes and support from a multi-academy trust, but "it is too soon to see any impact", said inspectors.

Following the report the school said it was "determined to make improvements" (Image: Sean Kelly)

A spokesperson for the school said that it was aware before Ofsted visited that it "needed to make progress" and that it has accepted "high-quality support" from an academy trust.

"Ofsted says we were slow to act, but also that we are starting to see the positive impact of that high-quality support," said HBHS.

"The inspection report says improved training is helping teachers deliver the curriculum more effectively, that the changes made to the school day will strengthen pupils' experience of the personal, social and health education curriculum, and that the revised behaviour system, while in the early stages of implementation, is also showing positive signs.

"Ofsted also highlights our ambitious curriculum, commends the school as calm, and praises our pupils, saying they want to learn and do their best.

"School leaders, wider staff and governors are all determined to make the improvements required so that the pupils get the education they deserve, and we are working as hard as possible to ensure that happens as soon as possible."

Councillor Guy Renner-Thompson, cabinet member for children and young people at NCC, said the council was "obviously disappointed" with Ofsted's findings but that Cumbria Education Trust is now working with the school with the aim of "driving forward improvements and outcomes".

"We are confident that this, alongside the support from the local authority, will swiftly bring about the necessary improvements," he said.

Sean Kelly, branch secretary of Northumberland NEU, said teachers want to have a "safe system of pupil behaviour in place and working" and that they "put the safety of all pupils at the top of their list of priorities."

"For almost two years, staff at the school have been pleading with the head teacher and governors to implement an effective pupil behaviour management policy and procedures," he said.

"Despite the creation of a new pupil behaviour policy on paper, it has remained largely on paper. The leadership of the school has not shown a commitment to implementing the new behaviour policy.

"There have been sudden and unexpected changes to the behaviour policy without any consultation with the frontline staff. Our members want to see the school starting to succeed rather than fail."

A spokesperson for NCC said school leaders and governors are "extremely disappointed" to see this industrial action taking place.

"We have been working with staff and their unions to identify issues and have engaged in several actions. Improvement plans are underway, with further co-produced plans for improvement recently introduced.

"We had hoped that unions might pause their action to allow this improvement to become embedded. We are committed to building on this base to rapidly address the remaining issues.

"School leaders and governors would want to express thanks to the school staff, students and parents continuing to support the school and their combined work in making it improve."

Cllr Renner-Thompson also shared his "disappointment" with the strike action and that it is a time to "pull together to support the school and the community".

NEU said they have notified HBHS that nine further days of strike action are set to follow.