Parents’ campaign to have popular Ridgeway High School headteacher Pauline Roberts reinstated

Oct 17 2012 by Liam Murphy, Birkenhead News

HUNDREDS of parents in Wirral have joined an online campaign to have the headteacher who “turned the school around” reinstated.

Ridgeway High School in Noctorum announced the suspension of its headteacher Pauline Roberts and another teacher in August.

But two months on, the pair remain suspended from work while parents have been growing increasingly angry.

They have formed a group on Facebook calling for the two teachers to be allowed back to work and have more than 250 members.

Ridgeway High announced the suspensions “pending further investigations” and it is understood they followed allegations made by another teacher.

Tony Taylor, who was currently deputy headteacher at the school was appointed to act as headteacher.

The shock move came just a few months after the school was celebrating being just one of 10 in the Mersey area to be included in a £2.4bn priority scheme for rebuilding.

Results at Ridgeway shot up after Ms Roberts took over as headteacher in 2008, and it was recently judged as “outstanding” by Ofsted as well as being one of just 100 schools in the country to be sent a personal letter from schools minister Nick Gibb MP in recognition of its GCSE improvements .

At the time Ms Roberts, who has worked for 28 years as a teacher, inspector and schools troubleshooter in London, before taking the job at Ridgeway, said part of its achievement resulted from new approaches to the very basics of teaching, which had included masterclasses and even residential courses.

At the time the teachers were suspended the chair of governors, Mrs Jane Gordon, said they wanted to “stress that suspension is a neutral act which allows an investigation to take place and add that we look forward to resolving this matter to the satisfaction of all concerned”.

The school confirmed the two teachers remain suspended while an investigation is “ongoing” but did not comment further.