We now have the details of the staffing and pay structure from April this year. It may have changed slightly since then but we are told it is at least 95% correct though some extra posts have been added.

From what we can see there are around 60 people in the management structure. This seems a huge amount of posts compared to a normal School and only needs one weak link for the whole thing to collapse. As has been proven at both Dowdales and UVHS a strong leadership is required to get the Schools performing well. In both these cases we are told that the Headteachers basically have the ultimate say over everything and keep the Senior Leadership Teams performing. With so many undermanagers in this structure it will be virtually impossible to keep track of all of the people responsible for the running of the School, hence an inherent weakness has been built in. As we understand it Mr Blackledge is basically copying the structure from his old Academy.

It is also worth noting that the wage structure for the teaching staff is very high. The Vice Principals for example are to earn more than most Head Teachers and many of the other 'teacher' based roles are very highly paid. Many of the support staff roles on the other hand, many of which are more highly qualified and skilled than the teaching staff, are poorly paid in comparison. The old adage 'Those that can do, those that can't teach' is very true even today. That is NOT to say all teachers are rubbish, far from it, but many are given bumped up roles that they cannot deal with, while others are held back because they are too valuable to lose. At the end of the day teachers trained to teach, not to manage. So to pay them inflated wages for jobs they aren't trained for is ridiculous. Then to expect decent 'trained management' to work under people like this for poor wages, in comparison, is clearly ridiculous. This place is doomed to failure just like Richard Rose and West Lakes Academies.

We are currently finding the best way to get the files uploaded so they are clear as they do not fit on a webpage properly and are not clear. In the meantime if you would like the files we will email them if you contact us on notnwemail@googlemail.com with the subject ‘structure files’. We will send the files and keep your email address private and will NOT let anybody else see it.

In the meantime feel free to visit our new forum, set up by a reader, don’t be shy if you are one of the first to post as it is brand new.