St Akelda's by Vivien Teasdale

 St Akelda’s Super-Structured School

Opportunity Road

Great Bridge

Yorkshire

2025 Awards

Instead School Inspection Service

London

Dear Sir/Madam

I understand that my name has been put forward for an award in the “Innovative Initiatives” section, for which a supportive explanation is needed.

When I first took over St Akelda’s Academy, last year, it was not thriving. We were two places above the relegation zone and I knew I had to act if I was to save the Academy from becoming a mere school again.

I looked at the timetable: boring. Access to subjects: restricted. Attendance: poor, especially by bored teenagers who turned up mid-morning, if at all.

I looked at the staff: bored, stifled, no hope of progression or promotion.

That was when I formulated, then proposed, my new idea: first to staff, then to parents. The school day was to be altered to suit the dispositions of the different age groups. The number of hours per day, per student, would remain the same but starting time would alter.

My most innovative rearrangement was shift work. There would be an early shift starting at seven am for Years seven and eight, who could be relied on to come as instructed.

A middle shift would begin at nine am for Years nine and ten and a late shift beginning at eleven am for Years eleven to thirteen.

We also instituted an evening shift (six pm to eight pm) for those who needed to catch up or wanted to study extra subjects.

Once established successfully, the evening shift was also opened up to parents (on a paying basis, of course) and has proved most popular.

Teachers now have the advantage of flexitime and there are more jobs available to cover all shifts. We are, therefore, able to employ cheaper trainee teachers, student assistants, or AI tuition in larger classes. Promotion opportunities have opened up, giving greater motivation to all. The evening shift is particularly popular with staff as students tend to be better behaved (they are usually half asleep).

We keep the special evening classes for those we feel can best benefit from them. This keeps the students away from distractions, such as other students. Children in the district now no longer roam the streets looking for mischief: they have no time or energy for such behaviour.

Staff particularly enjoy being able to swap shifts occasionally, especially those who prefer to be absent from home at certain times of the day, such as breakfast or doing the school run and having to face irate parents all trying to park as close as possible to their child’s school.

Morale has improved greatly and our results reflect this. Students here now study fifteen different GCSEs. Our sixth formers study five ‘A’ levels.

All this is spread throughout a day which can be stretched to eight hours for pupils, if required, but with no extra hours for staff, merely a different work pattern.

We have steadily climbed up the league tables and now stand in the top fifteen of the country. Other head teachers are queuing (and paying) at the door to find out how this has been achieved.

I sincerely commend myself to receive the coveted Initiative Award, and remain,

Yours sincerely

W Squeers, Esq

"ECU School of Education Class Room" by phi1317 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.