‘We feel school has failed our children’

Parents of pupils at a Hucknall school say it has failed their children and told them they must go elsewhere.

Annie Holgate Junior School has a chequered past with inspections by Ofsted putting the school into ‘special measures’ in December 2010.

A follow up inspection in March 2012 rated the school as satisfactory but inspectors have returned in recent weeks and although the latest report is yet to be published, parents believe the school is reacting to its findings.

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“We have been told they can’t deal with our sons and want to give them a ‘fresh start’ elsewhere because they need to get the school back up to grade,” said Elizabeth Hipkiss whose son Connor is nine and Clare Brierley whose son Keadon is eight.

“We don’t want them to go to another school but we feel we have no option,” said Clare of Salterford Road. “I want to fight it and believe the school should be there to help not just push him out.”

Clare and Elizabeth have other children at Annie Holgate so the logistics of getting their children to different schools is also a dilemma.

Both boys have learning difficulties. Keadon has ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and Connor has anger issues which impacts on their behaviour.

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“Connor’s hardly been in school since September as the school is always calling me to collect him as they can’t deal with him,” explained Elizabeth. “He hasn’t been allowed to play outside at breaktimes and they even called him a gang leader.

“They should have done more to help but they said they couldn’t offer more as they didn’t have the funds to give one-to-one support.”

There has been many changes at the school in recent months with headteacher Rosemary Jones off sick and a new interim head arriving in September.

“The kids returned after the summer to one teacher but then they were all swapped around,” addedElizabeth.

“We both feel the school has let us down.”

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Nottinghamshire County Council’s service director for education standards and inclusion John Slater said: “The school’s Ofsted report has not yet been published, but parents will be the first to be notified of the outcome.

“The substantive headteacher is currently away on long-term sickness absence. An executive headteacher is in post to support the acting deputy head to ensure the school is led.

“For reasons of confidentiality, we cannot discuss the cases of individual children with media. All schools in Nottinghamshire remain committed to meeting the needs of all children and to working in partnership with parents.”