'Exciting times ahead' at Heysham High after school becomes an academy

Heysham High School has officially converted to academy status and changed its name to Bay Leadership Academy.
Heysham High has converted to academy status.Heysham High has converted to academy status.
Heysham High has converted to academy status.

The secondary school took on its new status on Friday, and is now part of the Tauheedul Education Trust (TET) following several months of close working with governors, parents and senior leaders.

The school will introduce a new uniform for new Year 7 pupils, including blazers and a new school badge incorporating the TET logo. Current pupils can change to the new uniform if they wish, with a discount being offered.

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Principal John Shannon said: “Over the last few months, we have worked in partnership with TET and the academy’s stakeholders to formulate plans for Bay Leadership Academy’s future.

“This is an exciting time for our academy. I have no doubt that we will benefit considerably from having ready access to the expertise, approaches and support that have enabled TET to deliver outstanding results elsewhere in the country.

“I am also confident that our ongoing collaboration will create more opportunities for improved outcomes for our pupils and that, to me, is incredibly satisfying.”

Building work begins this week on the school swimming pool, which is due to re-open in September.

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Meanwhile, concerns raised in the community over staff cuts have been put down to the national financial situation in education, and Mr Shannon also said changes to the school curriculum have been in the pipeline for some time.

“All schools are struggling financially and making cuts,” he said. “That is nothing to do with the trust. It’s a reduction in funding and we have been doing that process for the past two to three years, it is a national issue.

“For young people to be successful they need a strong academic curriculum so there is a strong emphasis here on English, maths and sciences, but we have still got a good range of subjects. We are going to focus on what we do well.

“We have been in the process of looking at that for a long time to get the best out of our young people.”

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Tauheedul Education Trust is a mixed multi-academy trust that runs both faith-based and non-faith primary and secondary schools in five cluster areas – Lancashire, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, the Midlands and London.

“The conversion of Bay Leadership Academy strengthens TET’s presence in Lancashire, where the trust already runs six primary and secondary schools,” Mr Shannon added.