Longcroft To Keep Parents Informed Of Improvement Plans Following Meeting With Cllr Healy

St Mary’s Ward Councillor Denis Healy has met with the Acting Head of Longcroft School, Andy Baker, together with Longcroft pupils and teachers, following last week’s publication of the national progress scores, which revealed that Longcroft had the lowest score in the East Riding for pupil progress and below the national average.

Cllr Healy had said that parents needed to “have faith” that the school could turn round its performance. That prompted Mr Baker to contact Cllr Healy with an invitation to visit the school, to see for himself the work that is going on to get Longcroft back on track.

After his visit to the school, Cllr Healy was positive about what he had seen and heard. Cllr Healy said:

“I was delighted to accept Mr Baker’s invitation to visit the school today, and to hear about the work that is going on to turn the school around. Many parents have been in touch with me expressing their concerns about the school’s performance and there is little doubt that Longcroft is going through a tough time at the moment, and parents expect and deserve a school with great teaching and high expectations for their children.

“I was able to see lessons taking place in Art, Science, Law and English, and I witnessed passionate teachers and engaged pupils. I also had an opportunity to meet a group of pupils over lunch from each school year from year 7 to year 13, who were very open with me about what they felt could be improved and what is working well.

“Today I witnessed a school that is taking on board help and support in getting back on track, and an Acting Head who has great pride in the school to which he has given many years of service.

“It’s really important, now, that the school keeps parents informed about the progress it is making in delivering improvements, and with its supportive governing body, I am hopeful that Mr Baker and his team will do that.”

Mr Baker said;

“It was a pleasure to meet Cllr Healy, and to welcome him to Longcroft. Hopefully, my desire to invite him to school so soon after the publishing of the Hull Daily Mail’s article demonstrates my confidence in our staff and students. I am aware of the need to ensure our community is both informed of the steps we are taking to secure improvement and to instil confidence in our strategies and plan to hold a meeting for parents as soon as possible. We are working closely with both the Local Authority and Woldgate School, utilising support and addressing areas we recognise need to improve. Our highly skilled, experienced governing body ensure leaders are both supported and held to account and I am confident the commitment of our staff and students will be rewarded.”