More unrest at Lodge Park Academy in Corby as another headteacher exits and fed-up staff 'consider industrial action'

Ruth Roberts will exit the Shetland Way school in July. The school is now advertising for its tenth head in twelve years.

The announcement has been met with upset from staff who have told this paper that they are ‘on the point of open rebellion’ against the David Ross Education Trust, (DRET) which runs the school. Some say they may now consider industrial action.

Ms Roberts is said to have told staff that her decision had not been easy because she felt Lodge Park was a ‘part of her’

The role, worth up to £114k, is being advertised, but parents were not informed of Ms Roberts’ exit until after this newspaper contacted the trust for comment. On Friday families received a letter from executive principal Sue Jones who thanked Ms Roberts for her ‘brilliant commitment’.

But teachers told our reporters that relations between teachers and trust management are poor.

Regular meetings between union reps and the trust have turned sour.

One teacher told us: “It’s turned into DRET telling us it’s all our fault.

“But DRET have been in charge of this school for more than 11 years now. Everything that happens here is because of DRET.”

The school has a turbulent recent history, with Ofsted saying in 2019 that children were being failed. Carly Waterman became head in 2021 and had made strides to start turning around Lodge Park’s reputation.

The staff member said: “The community was starting to be proud of Lodge Park again. Children wanted to be here and so did staff. She totally changed the school very, very quickly. But things have slipped again very quickly since Carly left and the trust brought in executive heads.

"Ruth is sometimes undermined and the executive head will speak over her in meetings.”

The trust told this newspaper they had full confidence in their executive principal Sue Jones who was an ‘extremely committed, hard-working, talented and experienced leader’.

Unions are now asking the school for increased specialist staffing to try to get on top of the poor behaviour that has re-emerged in the past 18 months, including a ‘brawl’ in February.

“We need an SLT who we have confidence in,” said one staff member.

"Not just people who try to tell us it’s all our fault.”

Key meetings with HR bosses from DRET are set to take place this week.

Staff say that it is difficult to recruit new members of the senior leadership team and that staff turnover is very high.

"They arrive from DRET and six months later they up and leave,” said the teacher.

"We have a new vice-principal starting after half-term, an two new assistant heads after that and then a new head of school in September. Most of the new teachers who arrive here come from within the trust and already know the executive principal.

"The school’s in absolute turmoil. The memory of us having a school song or the staff and students dancing together, as we did two years ago, is now just laughable.

"Behavior inside the classrooms is still mostly OK but outside it’s carnage.

"The idea of industrial action is now being floated around.”

In its first 45 years in existence the school had only three heads – Neville Rumbelow, Richard Parker and Tom Waterworth. But since 2012 it has had nine more – Guy Shearer, Toby Mullins, Alison Hayes, Darren Gadsby, Leo Gilbert, Meena Wood, Robert Sloan, Carly Waterman and Ruth Roberts.

Carly Waterman is a respected local education leader who was widely felt to have turned around the school’s fortunes. There was glowing praise from staff, parents and inspectors as she managed to move the school on from its worst Ofsted report ever in 2019, during which inspectors told staff they felt unsafe in communal areas, to on the verge of a ‘good’ grading in 2021.

But in 2022 she left the school by mutual consent, to the widespread disbelief of local people. It’s believed the trust were not happy with examination results. Just a few days later she won a public vote in the education category at the Spirit of Corby awards.

Her former deputy Ruth Roberts was given the job of head, but executive headteachers from DRET have also been in the school managing its day-to-day running.

In January this year it again received a grading of ‘requires improvement’ from Ofsted.

A school spokeswoman said: “Ruth has shown great commitment to the school over the last five years and as a member of the senior leadership team under Sue Jones, the executive principal – passionate about education and helping all young people achieve their best.

“Sue Jones is an extremely committed, hard-working, talented and experienced leader with a track record of leading successful schools. She has worked with DRET for the last five years and during that time took another school in the trust from being in the bottom 20 per cent when it comes to the progress children make, to the top 5 per cent in the country.

"She will continue in this role leading Lodge Park, with strong support and investment in a team who are passionate about taking the school forward from recent improvements in results and the quality of education.

“Our most recent Ofsted inspection report published in January 2024 found that the quality of education at Lodge Park is ‘good’ (editor’s note: the overall grading was ‘requires improvement’) – which is the first time ever the school has secured this grade for education.

"There is more work to be done to improve behaviour and so we have been working in partnership with our trade union colleagues to make progress and ensure that staff and pupils have a positive experience within the school. Our trade union colleagues have helped shape our strategy and approach to making improvements within the school.

“We have a clear plan in place and are keen to work in close partnership with our families to make the improvements needed. DfE data released in 2023/24 also shows very clearly that our students are now making a quarter of a grade improvement at GCSE, a significant change for the better and which shows a very positive level of improvement to build on in the education we offer.”

Executive principal Sue Jones said she was ‘proud’ to work at Lodge Park, adding: “I have great belief in the students, staff and parents to work together to achieve the further, life-enhancing improvements. It is a great privilege to be given this challenge, for which I draw on all my energy, experience, heart and soul.

“ And, as the latest DfE data shows, our progress has improved significantly. I am so pleased that the work we are doing to improve the culture around the school is starting to pay off, including through some significant improvements in behaviour and attendance. I would like to take this opportunity to thank families for their support on this. With everyone working together we can make Lodge Park a school of which we can all be proud.

“I know I am very fortunate to have a great number of very committed colleagues at Lodge Park and others from our trust who support me in this work.”