Troubleshooter appointed at Calday Grange Grammar School amid headteacher suspension row

Apr 21 2010 by Ben Turner, Heswall News

A WIRRAL grammar school at the centre of a legal threat over its headteacher’s suspension has brought in a troubleshooter.

Calday Grammar School has asked Gareth Williams, principal of West Kirby Residential School, to temporarily take over the running of the school.

Mr Williams, who will continue in his role of 16 years at the residential school, has been appointed as interim executive director at Calday which controversially suspended headteacher Andrew Hall in October amid reports he had clashed with governors.

The appointment comes after solicitors were approached by staff in a bid to have their suspended headteacher reinstated by way of a judicial review.

Mr Williams tells visitors to his school website that he is a government-backed school improvement partner – a role with the remit of helping identify areas of improvement at other schools.

He has also been made a National Leader of Education by the government-backed National College for Leadership, an award given to “outstanding school leaders who, together with the staff in their schools, use their knowledge and experience of teaching to provide additional leadership capacity to schools in challenging circumstances”.

At the time Mr Hall was suspended, the school’s board of governors would only say his absence was “not of a financial or child protection nature.”

Pupils were given a letter confirming Mr Hall, headmaster at the Grammar School Lane school since 2002, will be “absent for a while”.

Chair of governors Margaret Twemlow said Mr Williams’ “leadership skills will be greatly beneficial to Calday Grange” and would be responsible for “complete statutory responsibility of the school”.

His duties will cover the education students receive, health and safety issues and delivery of the school development plan.

The appointment follows the impending departure of deputy Mike Skelly who is taking up a post in Essex.

The day-to-day running of the school though will be left to Mike Twist in the deputy headteacher’s post.

In a letter to parents Mrs Twemlow said: “Mr Williams and Mr Twist will work closely with the governing body to ensure that the school is steered through the current difficult situation, the staff are supported and there is the minimum of disruption to the education of the students.”

Mr Williams has not commented but Mrs Twemlow said in a statement: “Mr Williams is pleased to be joining such a successful school and work alongside the two current deputy heads, senior management team, staff and the governing body who have successfully managed the school over the past six months.”

The school has insisted it believed just one teacher was taking the legal action, but Kirwans Solicitors said it was acting for “a substantial number” of teachers and other staff at the school who, acting independently, are seeking to have Mr Hall reinstated.

The school, which dates back to 1636, making it Wirral’s oldest surviving grammar, was the first in the borough to become a Trust school.

Such schools are allowed to withdraw from the council network of schools and governors have a huge say in operations through more independence in management, the appointment of staff and including outside partners in the school.