Academy's new head aiming high (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Academy's new head aiming high

11:20am Tuesday 1st September 2009

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THE head of the new Clacton Coastal Academy says his aim is to make it the school of choice for parents and children.

Former Clacton County High School vice-principal Stephen Chamberlain has been appointed as headmaster at the new academy.

It will open its doors for the first time on Friday after Bishops Park College and Colbayns High School were given permission to form a single academy.

It is hoped its new status, sponsored by the Academies Enterprise Trust, will help drive up standards at both school sites.

The troubled Bishops Park was taken out of special measures in July after two years.

Some parents have welcomed plans to rid Bishops Park of its stigma, but others were keen for it to keep its own ethos.

Mr Chamberlain said one of his biggest challenges will be unifying the two newly merged schools in the eyes of students and parents.

“The key challenge is to ensure the students, their families, teachers and the community see the academy as a single institution,” said Mr Chamberlain.

“I hope those barriers between the different schools diminish and we can go forward with a unified approach.”

Mr Chamberlain, who worked at Clacton County High School for 11 years until he was appointed headteacher at Burnt Mill School in Harlow, said the school’s new academy status will help improve standards.

“With an academy comes additional resources and expertise that being part of a larger institution can bring,” he said.

“It is not going to be a quick process but I hope we can see a more coherent emphasis on things, starting with a smart new uniform and expertise to support young people who need the right kind of curriculum and qualifications to take through to higher education and into the world of work.

“It is not about change for change’s sake, but with the right resources in the right places we will give the young people in our community what they need to help them move forward.

“With the right expertise and additional funding to target the right teachers and resources, we can ensure young people achieve their potential.”

He said one of his first challenges is to ensure students are competent with literacy, numeracy and ICT. Bishop Park College’s controversial thematic curriculum had come in for criticism from parents when the school was placed into special measures.

Mr Chamberlain said he hopes to use the experience he gained in Harlow, where he faced a school with plummeting results, to help him achieve success at the new academy.

“The kind of challenges the young people in Harlow faced are not that different from Clacton,” he said.

“When this opportunity came up, having worked here for 11 years, I felt I knew a little about the community in Clacton and could help.”

Mr Chamberlain said he found his vocation as a music teacher before progressing to deputy head at Clacton County High School.

He said he has a “strong affection” for Clacton and wanted to return to put something back into the local community.

He added that knowing the area will give him a big advantage in getting the new academy up and running, as well as helping him to work in partnership with Clacton County High School and the Clacton Consortium – which aims to ensure a wide provision of subjects for sixth form students in the town.

It was mooted that the Bishops Park College site in Jaywick Lane could be closed in three years time and all students would move to the Colbayns site in Pathfields Road, but Mr Chamberlain hopes the academy will prove popular enough to warrant both sites remaining open.

“No decision has been made at the moment on the future of the site,” he said. “We still occupy it and it is dependent on pupil numbers.

“If the academy is popular both sites could remain open.”

Mr Chamberlain also wants to see an improvement in examination results, especially in English and maths, which are currently below the national average.

“I’m looking forward to the challenges of the role, but mostly to meeting the students,” he said.

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