Top Burnley school ‘stunned’ by being put in Special Measures

THE headteacher of Burnley’s top performing school has vowed to “get it right” after a damning Ofsted report placed it in Special Measures.

Miss Bernadette Bleasdale, headteacher of Blessed Trinity RC Community College, was speaking in the wake of a critical report from government inspectors who said the school needed to improve in four key areas.

Poor behaviour and the “value added” achievement of pupils – which measures a child’s progress throughout their school life – have to be addressed say inspectors.

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Blessed Trinity, the merger of the former St Hilda’s RC girls’ school and St Theodore’s RC boys’ school, only moved into its new purpose-built home in Ormerod Road last September after spending five years operating from three sites in Ormerod Road, Coal Clough Lane and Kiddrow Lane.

Only two years ago, Ofsted inspectors rated the school “good” but a serious decline since has led to the unprecedented action by the inspectors who will now return in six months.

A defiant Miss Bleasdale said: “I am incredibly upset but being upset won’t put things right, hard work will. We are not making excuses and we are not hiding, but there has been no other school in Burnley that has suffered the disruption we have had.

“Up to last September, the school was operating on three different sites. There is no doubt that has had an impact on our school as a community.

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“We were all stunned by the report. We’re aware there are areas for improvement, but Blessed Trinity has many strengths and we’re building on them all the time.”

See today’s Burnley Express for more on this story

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