School union rep sent home

AN anti-academy protester has been suspended from troubled Counthill School.

Art teacher Mac Andrassy, the school’s National Union of Teachers (NUT) rep, was suspended yesterday on full pay pending an investigation.

The union has not yet been told by the school why the action has been taken

Counthill is one of five Oldham secondaries which will be replaced by three city academies run by sponsors as part of Oldham’s £230 million education plans.

Bryan Beckingham, the joint branch secretary of Oldham NUT, fears that Mr Andrassy may have been targeted because of his union position and anti-academy stance.

He said the school had challenging problems and that the union would vigorously defend its member.

He added: “We now have an agreement with the school, the NUT and other unions, that any issues are dealt with by branch officials.

“All the reps in the school feel under attack. There is a lot of pressure on members in the school, the reps were feeling vulnerable.

“There are obviously underlying problems at Counthill which all the unions have been involved in trying to sort out with the authority — really challenging problems.”

In 2005, Counthill was classed as failing by education inspectors and troubleshooter Margaret Ryan was brought in to turn it around.

Last September David Lack took over as interim head teacher after Mrs Ryan retired only weeks into the academic year. Just two months later the governing body was sacked in an unprecedented step to improve pupils’ education.

Today’s GCSE league tables show that the percentage of pupils gaining the Government’s gold standard of five A* to C GCSE grades, including English and maths fell to 23 per cent last year.

Recent consultation found 78 per cent opposition to plans to replace Counthill with an academy.

Mr Beckingham said the school has the second highest staff turnover of Oldham’s secondaries — which he believes indicates a problem.

He added: “Response to the consultation at Counthill was overwhelming: 78 per cent opposed an academy and 73 per cent opposed closure but the local authority is ploughing ahead.”

The school declined to comment.