Head hits back in parents’ poll

AN Oldham school has defended itself against a scathing attack from parents on an Ofsted website — blaming an orchestrated campaign.

Oldham Academy North was given a definite thumbs down on the Parent View website which seeks opinions on vital aspects of a child’s school, from the quality of teaching to dealing with bullying and poor behaviour. Figures based on 133 responses to 12 questions on the Ofsted-run site showed an overwhelming dissatisfaction with the school which is due to move to a new £16million building in Royton next April.

When parents were asked whether their child makes good progress at the Rochdale Road school and is being well taught 95 per cent said they “strongly disagreed”.

The majority also said their child wasn’t happy at the school or felt safe and well looked after. And 95 per cent strongly disagreed the school is well led and managed, while 93 per cent were unhappy with the way concerns are dealt with.

Most damning of all when asked if they would recommend the school to another parent 96 per cent said no.

Principal Colette Burgess said: “The main concern with Parent View is that there’s no way of checking whether the contributions which are being submitted are actually from parents.

“We carry out a lot of parental surveys within the school and we’ve never had any feedback like that.”