Stand-in head is staying on (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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Stand-in head is staying on
2:00pm Sunday 25th December 2011 in Education By Emily Roberts
Charlie Currie, centre, pictured at a prizegiving event
THE interim headteacher of a Basingstoke secondary school, which was branded “inadequate” and given notice to improve, has now been appointed to take on the role permanently.
Charlie Currie was brought in to lead Brighton Hill Community College for two terms in September, after former head David Eyre retired months after the school was the subject of a critical Ofsted inspection report.
The county council advertised for a permanent head to lead the school from April 2012, and Mr Currie has now been offered the role.
The advert for the vacancy said: “We are looking for an existing headteacher – or someone with substantial acting headship experience – to take this school from ‘notice to improve’ to its former status as one of the area’s highest achieving 11-16 schools.”
Mr Currie will work in a dual role until April, as headteacher of both Brighton Hill Community College and Harrow Way Community School, in Andover, where he has been head for seven years.
He told The Gazette: “I have a lot experience of school improvement, and the reason the authority asked me to come in and take over at Brighton Hill initially is because of my track record of improvement at Harrow Way – it made a lot of progress.”
He said the quality of teaching at Brighton Hill was partly to blame for the school’s ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating, and added: “Clearly, people who read the Ofsted report can see why the school was given ‘notice to improve.’ “It’s a matter of public record that there were issues around the quality of teaching, and we are driving up standards across the board.
“But we should be very clear that the vast majority of teachers at Brighton Hill are talented, committed individuals, and we are working together on improvement for all of our students.”
Mr Currie said that he was “delighted” to be appointed as permanent head, and added: “I can create the stability that is needed.
“I have very high expectations for the future of the school and for our community so that we can live up to our expectations of being an outward-looking school, driven by attainment.”
