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Waterhead Academy will be under new control by the Summer

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OLDHAM College is relinquishing control of Waterhead and Stoneleigh Academies.

It says that academy sponsorship is “no longer feasible” on a small scale, and that sponsors have to be committed to taking on large groups of schools.

It also feels that the school curriculum “no longer embraces” any of the vocational or technical subjects it teaches.

Moor End Academies Trust, which is based in Huddersfield, has been chosen by regional schools commissioner Vicky Beer to take over the running of the schools in the summer. The exact date if to to be confirmed.

The trust already sponsors three schools and is in the process of opening another.

Oldham College has sponsored Waterhead Academy since 2010 . It replaced Breeze Hill and Counthill secondary schools.

It replaced Breeze Hill and Counthill secondary schools, which had predominantly Asian and white pupils respectively.

The school moved into a new £26.4 million building in 2012 and has received national praise for its work to bring children from different backgrounds together.

But it has had several principals and was given the bottom grade of inadequate at its last Ofsted inspection in November, 2014. The education watchdog said it was failing to give pupils an acceptable standard of education and placed it in special measures.

The college took over Stoneleigh Academy in 2012. The primary school was rated as good at its last inspection in June 2014.

Oldham College is dealing with large funding cuts while the future of further education and sixth form colleges in Greater Manchester is currently being reviewed.

A statement issued by the college says there have been rapid changes to education in the last six years.

It adds: “It has been increasingly evident that Waterhead Academy, in particular, needs the kind of support that a larger organisation can bring and Oldham College does not have the capacity or will to become a large multi-academy sponsor.   

“In post 16 education, which is the college’s core business, change has arguably been even more dramatic and disruptive than it has been for schools. There have been enormous funding and policy changes at the same time as the college has had to deal with a forty year legacy of low investment in vocational education in Oldham.

“The future promises to bring even greater change, through devolution and the structural reorganisation of the college system, all of which have huge implications for employment and economic growth in the town.  This must, therefore, be the college’s sole priority.”

Oldham College says that Waterhead Academy academy has improved rapidly since James Haseldine became principal in November.

Councillor and Waterhead Academy governor Riaz Ahmad added: “Oldham College was the right sponsor to bring Counthill and Breeze Hill schools together. Its support, vision, direction of travel and leadership has been invaluable. Despite some setbacks, Waterhead Academy is in a better shape now than at the start of Oldham College’s involvement.”

Chairman of governors Shauna Dixon said: “I am pleased that Waterhead is now on the right path and with the contribution we have made to this. It was always a challenging project, with the mixing of two very different school communities, the delivery of a new building, and the wider educational improvements which have been needed.

“The governors and staff have achieved a huge amount and created a platform for the new sponsor to focus exclusively and relentlessly on educational improvement.  I would like to thank all of those involved in the past, and pass on best wishes to those who will be involved in the future.”

Waterhead Academy has been praised by community cohesion expert and government adviser Professor Miles Hewstone.

Oldham College chairman Shaid Mushtaq said: “In order to understand the college’s contribution to these two academies, it is important to remember the history and background to Waterhead in particular. 

“At the time, the notion that young people in this town lived ‘parallel lives’ and could not mix, created the impression of a backward looking and insular place.  The work that has been done in establishing Waterhead Academy, which has attracted the interest of policy makers in the UK, has made a huge contribution to changing this perception.

“The college is very pleased with its contribution in this respect.  It is also mature enough and wise enough to realise that the time has come for a change.”