LYMM High school’s controversial Principal Angela Walsh has been
suspended by the school governors pending further investigations into a
number of issues.
Miss Walsh (pictured right) joined the school in September 2008 and hit the headlines within 12 months following the introduction of a controversial new school uniform policy, with pupils staging sit down protests and outrage from parents.
Staff morale has been low for some time, with significant numbers choosing to leave.
In a letter to parents and carers sent out last night (Friday) Chair of Governors Andrew Walshe and Vice Chair Rebecca Knowles said:”We are writing to confirm, as you may already know, that the governors of Lymm High School took the decision this week to suspend the Principal, Miss Angela Walsh, pending the investigation of a number of issues.
“We are sure you will understand that we cannot provide any more information than that to you at this time.
“We met today with the Senior Leadership Team, to put in place interim leadership arrangements for the school for the rest of this term.
“We have asked Suzanne Finlay to become Acting Principal for this period, and all members of the Senior Leadership Team will be taking on some additional responsibilities.
“We have a very high regard for their professionalism and commitment, and know they will have the full support of governors and staff. We also met yesterday with many parents, who attended the open session we held, and we know that while parents think very highly of the school, and its teaching and non-teaching staff, they had important concerns about issues like staff turnover, continuity of teaching, behaviour, homework, and other things.
“We have asked Lisa Dobson and Suzanne Finlay, who attended those meetings with us, to draw up an action plan to tackle those concerns, and a summary of the issues and how they are being addressed will be posted on the school website in the parent communications area by Friday of next week.
“Governors will be meeting next week to discuss the leadership arrangements for the School from September 2013, and we are working with senior staff from Warrington Borough Council on that matter.
“We expect to have a full complement of permanent teaching staff in September –including all leadership roles like heads of faculty and subject –and we are looking forward to welcoming a number of key new staff to the School.
“We know how important Lymm High School is to the community it serves, and we take our responsibilities as governors very seriously.
We will be writing to you again to keep you informed of developments and we plan to hold further open sessions for parents as they are required.We thank all of you for your support and commitment to the school.”
The School has been an Academy since last September.
On the website ratemyteachers.com, Miss Walsh receives one star out of a possible five for “easiness”, “helpfulness” and “clarity.”
Users of the site make comments such as “useless”, “She’s not right for the job”, “school is going dramatically downhill last few years, so much so I would recommend against going to it” and “She is known for all the wrong reasons, bullying, intimidation, victimisation.”
42 Comments
A difficult time for everyone concerned. Thoughts and prayers for Ms Walsh, the Governing Body, the School Leadership Team, and for all of LHS’s staff, students and parents. Praying for God’s peace amidst the disruption to the lives of all those affected.
The right action, sadly taken far too late by the governors to avoid serious damage to the education and A level results of this year’s leaving pupils (who to cap everything had their teaching support withdrawn leading up to exams to cover a shortfall of staff for other years who were deemed more important) and those who have suffered before.
It is not just pupils. This lives and careers of mant teachers and support staff have also been impacted for the worse. The same staff who, in a sociopathic twist, have been told by the leadership team that it is they who are to blame for Poe performance.
The way this was heading was clearly evident to pupils, teachers and parents from tha very start of Walsh’s tenure. It has been widespread and open knowledge for many years now. The inability or refusal of the Govenors to recognise this and take any action until crisis point has been reached is a complete disgrace. All governors should recignise the part they have played, accept their responsibility and consider whether they can justify staying in position whike retaining any moral integrity.
Whilst the school needs short term stabilisation, the governors must be extremely catious of the remaining leadership team. This team was assembledcby Walsh to fulfil her agenda in the way she desired. They carry the same lack of respect, lack of confidence in ability and suspicion of motives as their leader from pupils, staff and parents. Accountable for designing and executing Walsh’s policies, they are not innocent bystanders; they are not known as “Walsh’s Inner Circle” without justification. The entire leadership and administrative structure and those who fulfil it requires an intensive review.
I feel the aim and content of any prayers is very different between those said for the pupils, staff and parents and those said for Ms Walsh and her leadership team.
Totally agree with MWilliams, her first appointment was a formal colleague who has no teaching qualifications.
All the other members of the leadership team are leaving this year, Lisa Dobson and Chris Kinsey both leaving, Len Davies and Michelle dean stepping down to non leadership roles.
The governors must now act to remove the other people involved so that this school can return to its once flagship status.
Hi Gary, has staff moral been low or staff morale? Would suggest it’s maybe just the morals of one that are at question here.
About bloody time! The governing body are beginning to catch on it seems, but they have been awfully slow to do so. When I was working there, I found the management and leadership arrangements to be incompetent at best and downright dangerous at worst. I think questions need to be asked of the board of governors as to why some of the key personnel within the headship team were appointed in the first place.
They acted (and probably still do) with impunity and displayed open hostility towards honest, hard-working people if they did not 'tow the line'.
I will be following the developments of this with keen interest.
As a parent of a pupil who will be joining Lymm High in September, I’m obviously concerned at the unfolding story and unfortunately had no knowledge of the issues at this school. It feels like I have let my child down because I didn’t do due diligence prior to selecting the school. For me, Lymm High had a reputation as an excellent school and I now feel worried about my childs future.
I would feel worried too, more so if my child was planning to join the sixth form as there are very few experienced teachers left and in some cases no staff left that can teach A level such as in most of the science subjects. Even the Director of Sixth Form has stepped down so no leadership there either.
Isn’t this school outstanding?She must have been doing something right?
It was outstanding at the last inspection which was just after she had joined the school and before she brought in her team to run it with her. The outstanding was more due to the high standards the school was in under the leadership of Roger Lounds. I think they would be lucky to get satisfactory if ofsted came in now as it has gone rapidly downhill since she took over with her mates. The results will be interesting this summer as so many classes have been taught by supply teachers with so many leaving and many of those that are not leaving are on long term leave due to the stress of working there!
the last full ofsted inspection took place early in the first term that ms Walsh began her headship. at that point, it was roger lounds who could be named responsible for the ofsted outcome – his policies, his teaching staff, his school – that gave her the result. teachersand staff at the school have been actively praying for ofsted to visit so they can inform them of the misery, bad management and poor behaviour that currently exist in the school. angela walsh has done nothing right, except maybe to create an 'image' of a corporate establishment that looks fabulous. in reality, the phrase, ' all fur and no knickers' comes to mind.
Long term leave due to stress? What a bunch of wimps, it is no wonder the school is going downhill.
Miss Walsh joined the school in the Sept and the inspection took place in the following Dec. The 'outstanding' achievement was inherited from the previous Headteacher Mr Lounds and the qualified, experienced and devoted staff which he had assembled. Most of those have now left the school.
Outstanding was achieved by the old leadership team, this was when teachers wanted to part of the school and were committed to the school ethos set by Roger Lounds. Principal Walsh has been a disgrace to Lymm HS, staff have felt bullied and huge numbers have left each year (ripping the core from the school). Lymm HS is in a very bad place and the governors need to remove the leadership team to move on and re-build the school. The leadership are to blame for the complete failure of the school and in any other industry they would be relieved of their duties, the governors need to take action !
Having a son who has just finished his A level exams I can tell you that existing teaching staff who had with great respect from pupils and experience and who clearly enjoyed their job have left the sciences over this period and have been passed over in favour of incoming staff. The incoming staff appear to be below the teaching ability of the existing staff and indeed of the pupils. One of these teachers had to cut one lesson short when my son eventually got it through to her that she had not got the facts right and was teaching the theory wrongly. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident. Leading up to exams the teachers were told to fill in for year 12 due to staff shortages and were unable to support those taking their A Levels. My son went into school as demanded on several occasions to find no teachers and no working computers. There has been no consistency in teachers over this period with constant replacement and a low morale amongst staff. I firmly believe many children are at risk of achieving their target grades this year. regardless, they have been placed under severe stress in striving to overcome the challenges. This is not how it should be. I would demand that the governors voluntarily call in OFSED as part of their action plan to turn this situation around.
Where are you getting this info from. I have a Y11 at the school, and a prospective Y7 going in. We all received letters on Saturday stating that Mrs Dean is going to be the Director of learning for my Y7 child.
I heard nothing of the “open meeting” last week yet got the text about the letter being on its way but thought want clear until it arrived on my doorstep.
The whole situation has been handled appallingly and I’d like there to be a dramatic improvement on communication to and from parents and perhaps an independent investigation and assessment as there an awful lot of doubt in the now existing management team at the school and the governors….. Who have we entrusted such a massive budget to and how can we be reassured that new SLT and teachers are the best to educate my children?? Who is assessing the investigation if the governors are incompetent too?
The damage done to the staff that have left is irreperable, to the current cohort of pupils probably equally so. The only way the governing body can hope to repair the damage to the future of the school is by careful, intelligent appointing of a totally new Headship Team.
Even supply teachers do not want to work in the environment created by this leadership team
I hear that ofsted are ithere on Monday
Under the current ofsted framework this school would never have been deemed outstanding because it has never been deemed outstanding in the specific area of teaching and learning. Staff are the victims of a tougher and far more pedantic and prescriptive ofsted framework.
As a former pupil who was knocked over in corridors many times and hit in the head by a variety of sports gear in english I think it's about time to suspend the head.
Completely agree and would encourage all governors and parents to back this approach.
All we get from the school is spin. All is OK the governors have every confidence in the senior leadership team. About time the governors started to listen to teachers, parents and children. Appoint an independent body the review the management. All we get is a new director of this or new director of that. NO teachers. The sciences don’t have teachers that can teach to A level standard. LHS has let the kids down. They will not get the grades expected
Seems as though the governors should be cleared out. As I understand the system now, as this school is an academy and free of local council control, who is it who will take over the running of this school. Prior to academies, the local council would put in a special team and sort it out. This was an excellent school, and I’m sure it can be again.
I am a parent of a year 10 pupil. The Board of Governors should all be made to resign (by the way, who are the Board of Governors? What’s there qualifications to be in this position) and new Board of Governors should be appointed. If a new board is appointed it would be common sense that one should be an Accountant seeing that we are talking about a large amount of money that the school are given to spend and one be a retired Head Teacher independent from LHS as they know the every day workings of a school and how it should be managed – like a school not a corporate company like Walsh was doing. But at the end of the day the only thing that has been keeping this school standing for so long is the time and dedication of the teaching staff. This needs swift action now before it too late.
I am very sad because i enjoyed school before she arrived. Mr Lounds was very friendly and she isnt. Standards have gravely decreased, in every aspect, it will be a miracle if we achieve outstanding again, and i wish whoever takes over the best of luck. (Youre gonna need it) 😉
I have had 2 children go through Lymm High, one has just finished university and the other one left last year. The difference in ethos of the school was so evident when Ms Walsh took over. My daughter used to come home from sixth form saying the teachers were so unhappy they were begging pupils to get parents to complain. Good, long standing teachers left in droves – leaving in- experienced and lacking teachers in many core subjects. I thank god that she only had a couple of years to battle through. I now have an 8 year old at primary and have been looking at other secondary schools to send her to – but now-hopefully things are changing – I may think again and hope that the new regime will restore the school back to its former glory. I want my daughter to go to Lymm High, but will be watching with my breath held.
It would appear that Ms Walsh and her leader ship team all need to attend her ‘repair and improve’ classes
I agree it’s about time this women was removed from the post & I have concerns with the replacement. However, there have been a lot of changes to the governing board recently which is possibly why things are now being done. I would suggest those long-standing governors need to take a long hard look at themselves & ask why it has taken so long to sort this mess out. I would hope those people would do the right thing and resign letting the “new blood” get on with picking up the pieces.
I think the school and governing body both need to apologise to the children, parents and future university choices. Admit they have serious problems and openly state how they are to address the problems. We have all had enough of the LHS publicity machine that continues to roll out the same propaganda . Why is LHS investing £500,000 in new technology when the kids don’t have text books or suitably qualified teachers.
It amazes me when people get on the band wagon of 'Get rid of the lot of them?' How narrow minded can you possibly be??
As an ex-student I fully understand what an incredible school Lymm was, is and will still be if people making the decisions on the next steps don’t listen to the ' hang em high brigade'
I am very aware of the hard work, immense pressure and stress other members of the leadership team and teaching staff have been under.People need to understand that in this case it’s the very few (at the top of the tree) who are the cause for concern and not the whole of the senior leadership team, Governors and staff.
If people aren't aware of the facts they need to find them out first instead of complaining and making random, dangerous comments on the World Wide Web!!!
Please, please let the good, hardworking staff have their input into the decisions that are to be made and let the scare mongers’ and snap decision makers who don’t know the facts waste everyone’s time by putting rubbish comments on chat forums like this !!
I totally disagree with you, worriedexpupil. There should be new, fresh untainted experienced people brought in, people who have had no dealings with Walsh. As for us “wasting everyone’s time by putting comments on chat forums like this” – are we not leaving comments about the news article in question? Anyway where are we supposed to go from here, answer me, that seeing your so clever.
In reply to your question. It is the governors of the school that can and have made the decision to suspend the head teacher. They have the facts and have obviously made their decision based on those facts. If you have any concerns you would need to write to the chair of governors.
To simply say that a whole scale change to the governors and senior leaders is not helpful and potentially damaging to hard working members of staff who have tried their very best to rescue the situation and who are proud to work at the school and only want the best for its staff, pupils, parents and the community.
worriedexpupil – sadly, the comments being aired on the WWW are not narrow minded and are in fact, the truth. as an ex-staff member, i have experienced life with mr lounds, and angela walsh. i can tell you that 99.9% of the comments on this forum are facts and that there are many more damning facts that are yet to be known or discovered. i agree that the staff should have input into decisions that are made, but sadlly, for the last 3 years that has not been the case. staff have been ignored, bullied, threatened and made to feel so inadequate that they are now just ‘going through the motions’. its great to be asked your opinions – write it down on paper, hand it to the principal, and then be told, ‘this is what we are doing’. as staff then communicate between each other it becomes apparent that the final outcome is not what anyone actually asked for!
and just to ‘eagle’ – bunch of wimps? i can only assume you have no school experience – or even no LHS experience? 40 odd years ago the united nations came up with a list of basic human rights – i draw your attention to articles 1,2,3,4,5,14,18,19,20,23,26,27,28, 30. i have witnessed first hand all of these articles being violated. it is believed that’ violations of the fundamental rights of all human beings, occurring anywhere in the world, are not just a taunt to the piece of paper holding the Declaration of Human Rights, but to the very basis of humanity itself.’ were not talking about a bunch of wimps but a highly educated workforce that have had to endure horrendous working conditions and environments without the option to complain or comment. the teachers at LHS are some of the finest i have met, and ALL put the needs of the children first, it is just that ms walsh and her cronies have made the situation impossible.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/list-of-human-rights.html
To be Expected is all i can say for now
Their latest letter – “we have bought many new iMacs to kit out the IT suite” – what a waste of money on top end machines. Maybe it would of been better spent on ‘less costly hardware’ and the remaining cash spent on helping the staff provision.
I couldn’t agree more????????
As or experience of LHS, my whole family has gone through the school, I know many of the teachers at the school and have been teaching for over 10 years!
Your comments about staff being bullied, threatened and made to feel inadequate were all made in my first post on here??? Some of the bullies are still in post??
I was simply saying that not all of the SLT or the governors are involved in the problem and have actually tried very hard behind the scenes to prevent and fight against the problems that not only the teachers and pupils were facing but problems they themselves could see!!
My concern is with the people who were ready to hang everyone in the SLT and get rid of the whole of the school governors!!!! As you are very aware with your extensive knowledge of human rights and teaching, this first thing you DONT do when a pupil has made the wrong choice are making the whole class pay for their mistakes!!!
Ms. Walsh needs to take some time to reflect on the part she has played in her demise.
There are many who have needed prayers, support and fairness under her regime but sadly have received none.
The rest of the ‘leadership’ team need to consider their own positions very carefully.
They have all been responsible for creating this situation and the prayers should be reserved for the innocent victims – pupils, staff, parents and the many staff who have been forced out.
Maybe the ‘leadership’ need to show remorse before being given forgiveness and prayers?
I expect your comments are aimed at a few people and comments, so I would ask that you be careful of characterising and dismissing all concerns and facts aired by worried CURRENT parents and those who have and are experiencing the problems at the school as you have.
Social media is now a fact of life as organisations and Governments across the world recognise and are building into their policies. Your pupils will be very aware or this!
R, I agree that this needs to be handled with imartiality, with the emotion taken out and with no prejudgment. The issue is that trust is very low with those in management and governance and that needs to be addressed.
We have not been told the reason for the suspension of the head teacher and it may be completely unconnected with the numerous complaints that have suddenly appeared following the appearance of this news.
It occurs to me that Miss Walsh clearly believes in discipline and that we now have numerous generations of teachers, parents and, even more so, pupils, who are not accustomed to being disciplined