There seems to be a gross inaccuracy within these pages about the about the predeccessor school : ST AIDANS WAS NEVER IN SPECIAL MEASURES ,read its ofsted reports if they still exist, the publicity campaing for RRF hinted that the performance of both predecessor school was low - false - they never stated it directly because they couldnt prove it and would have faced dozens of Law suits, as for NCTC, the then Head Mark Yearsley had moved there form solway and brought the school out of special measures long before the merger.Pity he left , but Peter Noble had tied his hands!! preventing him exercising his expertise and good judgement. if your going to Comment GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT.

This is currantly the school i am at and the standers are very poor, Like in some i=of the previouse coments some teachers do not get the help they are needed in some of my clases the help that the techers need is unbelivably poor the techers get no help at all with students that dont want to learn need taken out and put somewere else for the student that wont to learn but it is not happening!

Exhausted Primary Teachers first paragraph sums it up for me. Education and Respect starts at home. I suspect the problems at RRCA are more to do with the parenting of the pupils rather than the teachers and management. But hey, it's easier to blame the teaching staff isn't it???

To hear that RRCA has returned into special measures has not suprised me one little bit. To be honest I was more suprised they managed to get out of special measures in the first place. As a former pupil the faults with the place are endless. The main one being is that it is not treated like a school, the children are not the main priority and it is more about the money/ buisness side. Some of the teachers that I would consider very good were put under large amounts of stress and the majority left, leaving the ones that didn't have a clue or the ones that favoured the original school they came from. The teachers didn't have a clue. The amount of truancy phone calls my parents would recieve in a week was a joke, especially when they went to check the class and realised we were there and it was their fault. The teachers had no control over the pupils and didn't recieve much help from the higher people up and when they did their answer would be a simple either exclude them properly or be put in the internal exclusion room. The open plan academy is very distracting and is treated like a jail with all the doors being locked etc. Most of the BTEC's I achieved was from copying out of a book or just what the teacher had wrote on the board, no actual learning took part or was delievered in practical. The main thing I remember is when they knew OFSTED were coming in, the children would get bribed to behave, for example if we screwed it up, we would regret it. They had a designated member of staff walking up and down the corridoor keeping an eye out for when OFSTED were on the way to the room, and would run in and suddenly the whole lesson would change. The school is a joke and do not have a clue what they are doing. For example when their was a fight, the boy that was injured was left with a bucket to bleed into with no proper first aid provided. The best thing anyone could do is change school. I left to go to college and everyone who stayed on for sixth form that I knew either left or regretted it big time.

As i former student of the school I am not suprised that the school has turned back into special measures. I was at the harraby site for the last year of education however from day one there was trouble, the 'people' behind the acadmey only thought about the money and how good they looked in the press and not about our education. The organisation behind the acadmey was rushed and not thought through. Some teachers who were previously great at teaching were but under to much pressure to get us to 'achieve' but without support this didnt work and it resulted in the last year 11 grades falling and a lot of us coming out with grades we did not want. It is all well and good that the 'big people' behind this put the money in however with the teachers were under stress and needing support which from our point of view was not given then the teaching went down hill and for a lot of us we have to retake our gcse again now we have left. Communication in the acadmey was a joke the amount of times my parents tried to ring up and complain and was told that person was not in or they would ring back then nothing ever happend there was no respect given to the parents/carers and their views were not listened to, no communication was in place with staff, pupils and parents. The fact that the school had to have bouncers says it all about behaviour really! even then sometimes that didnt help, looking back a lot of us could run round the teachers with no punishment. The riot that took place showed the school how unhappy there pupils were and nothing changed. The school still reminds me of events that were very similar to waterloo road! I really feel sorry for the teachers who have been put under so much pressure and some who have also left.
I will be very surprised if the school manages to change this around for the better!

I am unsettled by some of the comments slinging mud at former heads/staff. Mr Wallace drove the school forward with as much candour as he was allowed. People must remember in the academy the head does not have total control or always the final word, they are limited by their bosses who wish to appear to be TOTALLY INCLUSIVE with few exclusions, unfortunately some of these unruly students could do with a MEGA reality check. In the real world you have to do things that are some times unpleasant and not as you wish this I am afraid is life. The "I can do what I like" mentality is not just in schools it is in some homes as well. More respect as a whole should be taught, my mother has always said "manners cost nothing" and if everyone adhered to this the WORLD would be a nicer place. This may sound old fashioned but core values should NEVER go out of date.

As a primary teacher locally, I can tell you that although some of the issues with RRCA are due to a difficult layout and possible poor management, some of the problems found by Ofsted start long before children start secondary school - lack of respect for authority, coming from chaotic homes, poor male role models, a diet high in sugar and chemicals, lack of sleep - these have an effect on how children will behave and in turn how well they will learn. You can have the best teachers and the best systems in place, but if things aren't right at home then that will always have a detrimental effect on children's learning.

That being said, in order for a school to work there needs to be consistency across the school in terms of behaviour and staff need to be backed up by senior management. I am sure that there are teachers working 70+ hour weeks in RRCA in order to give these children an excellent education and although there may be more problems then successes school-wide, these teachers and support staff who are giving it their all should be acknowledged and praised. Well done, you teachers in RRCA who are working your backsides off, despite the issues. You will still be making a difference in young people's lives.

This school was never going to work...why?, because of the open classrooms. Pupils screaming at each other from one side of the room to the other.They also throw things and run around. Deputes never wonder the zones to check on the pupils. The pupil's can do what they want, when they want. I really feel sorry for the teachers and the pupil's as there are some amazing teaching and pupils who work/learn in the school.

Ex employees have a go because they were treated like dirt. Experienced teachers with year's service being told to shut up and get on with it when they said that the building design would cause problems. Staff treated like children and children treated like adults. Teachers trying to enforce discipline in the classrooms and not being supported by senior managers. Badly behaved children being rewarded. Staff being threatened in meetings by senior management. Staff not having facilities to allow them to have a break during the day. Nowhere to even make a cup of coffee and drink it in peace. Nowhere to work in peace. Staff who worked with the children in lessons being made redundant yet senior and middle managers all keeping their jobs. A joke.

Yes Katherine. I have a child still at RRCA and one moved to 6th form at another school.
THe child who moved says it is a lot easier to hear in the other school due to old style classrooms rather than the constant din at RRCA.