Pupils to be moved out to end gang warfare and bullying

MINISTERS fighting to save a flagship academy may resort to sending pupils to another local school until order can be restored.

The culture of bullying in schools has escalated The culture of bullying in schools has escalated

The Richard Rose Central Academy in Carlisle failed an Ofsted inspection on every level after pupils complained of a culture of gang warfare and bullying at the £5million school.

Dogged with controversy since it was formed last year from the merger of St Aidan’s High School and North Cumbria Technology College, where the 1,900-

pupil academy is based, youngsters took the unusual step of protesting against conditions and demanded to be moved.

A new headmaster was appointed last week but ministers may still consider moving some pupils to one of the old sites, St Aiden’s, until he has established the necessary changes.

Pupils objected to the 40 temporary classrooms in use until building work is completed, and said they did not want to be educated at the school with the worst record in the country.

New head Russ Wallace is insisting on a zero tolerance approach to bad behaviour since his appointment last week on a drama-packed day which saw the merged schools’ chief executive Peter Noble and the director of the new campus, Mark Yearsley, leave their posts in disgrace.

Mr Wallace will work with new chief executive Mike Gibbons, head of innovation at the Education Department and former head of the highly successful Trinity School in Carlisle, and is promising that pupils will receive extra lessons from expert staff and one-to-one tuition will be available to all at weekends and in school holidays to ensure

pupils are ready to sit their GCSEs this summer.

Hundreds of parents packed a lecture theatre at the academy to hear the disastrous results of the Ofsted inspection as their children demonstrated outside, saying many had been terribly frightened coming to school over the last few months as the culture of bullying and intimidation escalated.

One parent, who asked not to be named, said: “The nice children were utterly terrified. They were getting bullied for trying to work at school by a minority of thugs who were virtually taking over the place. If anyone complained to the staff they were poo-pooed and told that there was no bullying. The final straw for us parents was when the children said they weren’t going back and launched their own campaign for change.”

The Richard Rose Central Academy was also one of the worst in the country for widespread truanting and violent incidents when pupils left each afternoon, requiring patrols by police.

There are claims from students that half of the staff were off with stress and during one hour last year the fire alarm was set off four times, causing chaos as hundreds of children fled the building.

One angry parent, Frances Bolam, formally withdrew her 11-year-old daughter Tamzin from the academy because she feared for her safety.

The mother of three said: “She was scared and I had to go up to the school and physically collect her. I handed back her uniform last year.”

Mrs Bolam claimed Tamzin was threatened by other pupils and called home in a panic using a friend’s mobile phone.

She added: “As a parent it is an awful feeling to think that your child is that scared.”

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?