And staff say the situation is made even worse because teachers have divided loyalties between the school's two `joint heads'.
As revealed last week, Ofsted is recommending Parrs Wood High in Didsbury is placed into special measures which would give council education bosses direct control. Inspectors who visited earlier this month blamed `turmoil' among senior teachers for contributing to the problems.
The M.E.N. can also reveal that a key member of the school's 23-member governing body has resigned.
Lord Keith Bradley submitted a written resignation to an emergency meeting of governors last week. The peer, who has a daughter at the school, told the M.E.N. he had chosen to step down because commitments at the House of Lords would prevent him lending his full weight to recovery efforts.
He denied he was turning his back on the school and had offered to remain an associate member of the governing body.
Ofsted's draft report on Parrs Wood was due to be handed out to teachers today. The school has five days to respond before the measures come into force.
But a damning draft based on verbal feedback from Ofsted has been seen by the M.E.N. It gives the school a grading of unsatisfactory - the lowest of four possible marks. It says: "There is too much uncertainty across the school, insufficient progress, too many initiatives, frequent restructuring, lack of clarity and poor performance at Key Stage 3 and across English and maths.
"Leadership and management are inadequate, there is a lack of shared vision, there is confusion, inconsistency and a lack of accountability. The school requires special measures as it provides an unsatisfactory standard of education and those responsible for leading the school do not have the capability to change that."
Concerns were expressed that many pupils at the 2,000-capacity school were `coasting' with too few leaving with top grades. GCSE results have slipped, attendance is declining and there is a lack of challenging lessons, says the report.
The school has one headteacher, David Ashley, and an associate headteacher Rachel Jones, who have been described as the school's `joint heads'. Staff are understood to have split loyalties between the pair.
A number of teachers who have contacted the M.E.N. have blamed senior members of staff for `undermining' Mr Ashley.
One, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "The governors have refused to give the head their full support. The staff have been caught in the middle by the arguments between management figures."
Others have blamed the head for adopting initiatives, including one scheme, later dropped, allowing pupils to use mobile phones and iPods in class. Tweet
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To ensure a smooth sailing and avoid confusion, there can only be one Captain of any ship. Why then was it considered necessary to have "joint heads" at this school? A recipe for disaster if ever there was one.
I think the trail has to be followed back to who appointed an 'associate' head to stay on as headteacher, even though there should only have been one teacher, amongst the governing body, and why and also how.
Who helped the associate headteacher stay in power, claim an additional £100,000 per year of public funds and what kind of deal, with terms, was made to keep this person employed as a second headteacher when not actually needed.
Whoever created such a deal amongst the teaching staff and governing bodies is responsible for the split amongst staff and undermining Parrs Wood's genuinly appointed headteacher, in my humble opinion.
It appears to me that someone is on a 'nice little earner' here.
One for the price of two, so to speak.
One can only guess who is or who are responsible.
I believe that it is not that there are two captains of the ship but rather that there is no captain in evidence at all. In such a large school it is obvious that there will be opposing factions but it is the responsibility of the head to provide the leadeship that unites them in the common goal of success for it's pupils. I suspect that a singular lack of consultation and communication has helped to lead this once excellent school to the plight it is in today.
The governors are enirely to blame for this situation. To be appointed to a post as head only to find out a few weeks later that the governors have decided to give the internal, unsuccessful candidate a 'co-headship' role has to be a receipie for disaster. At his previous school, David Ashley's lead as head was judged to be 'outstanding'. It would therefore suggest that the issues lie elsewhere.
The governors and LEA are ultimately responsible for this mess. Why did they spinelessly cave in to pressure from certain senior staff and appoint an asociate head who had twice been unsuccessful at interview? The governors responsible for that huge error of judgement, and for the outrageous waste of public money it entails should step down. In my view both heads have now lost their credibility, given this damning Ofsted report. Students, teaching staff and the community have been very badly let down.
A summary of the last Ofsted report on David Ashley's previous school which he lead as Head Teacher. The children at Mr Ashley's previous school had one main advantage over the children at Parrs Wood- At Hathershaw the Governors only appointed one Head.
Ofted 2004.
Hathershaw is a very good college with many outstanding features. It brings together students from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds and provides them with education of a high quality.
They achieve very well. The college raises the aspirations of its students, many of whom come from
disadvantaged backgrounds, and provides excellent support to help them meet their goals. It gives
very good value for money.
The college has many strengths. Its main strengths and weaknesses are:
· Leadership and management of the college by the headteacher and senior team are
outstanding; they have fostered many innovative approaches which have significantly raised
the achievement of all groups of students.
Just because Mr Ashley was head at a successful school previously does not mean that he necessarily is a good manager.
Before people point a finger at the Governors or Ms Jones they should actually realise the circumstances surrounding the hiring of Mr Ashley. Ms Jones was only unsuccessful because the LEA refused to accept the Governors choice. The LEA forced Mr Ashley on the governors and the school after the Governors had offered Ms Jones the job.
Someone should actually highlight what Ofsted have said about the part of the school that Ms Jones is responsible for.
As a pupil at Parrs Wood, I believe that the OFSTED report was a good eye-opener for those who for too long were satisfied with the poor running of the school. I also feel that credit should be given to the majority of high quality teachers at the school, who continue to make Parrs Wood an excellent place to learn. I strongly believe that the dual headship was a mistake, and that though Mr Ashley did a good job at his last school, the scale of Parrs Wood has overwhelmed him. Ms Jones has a better understanding of the school, having been there much longer, and commands far more respect amongst pupils. Previous headteacher Mr Hall also had faith in her abilities, so with improved initiatives and assistance from governors, I think Ms Jones could do a better job and should have been appointed the single headteacher in the first place.
Concerned of Didsbury, you say "Someone should actually highlight what Ofsted have said about the part of the school that Ms Jones is responsible for". I assume you are referring to the Sixth Form, which got a good report. If so, please note that Ms Jones was put in charge of the Sixth Form a mere 8 weeks before the Ofsted inspection, in Sept 2007, so can't justifiably claim the credit. For the years prior to that, her responsibilities were whole school, as acting headteacher, then associate headteacher. She therefore shares responsibility with Mr Ashley.
The new Ofsted report has been released, follow this link if you want a grim read:
www.ofsted.gov.uk/reports/pdf/?inspectionNumber=287263&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=\\school\\105\\s5_105556_20071211.pdf
Overall effectiveness of the school
Grade: 4
Key for inspection grades
Grade 1 Outstanding
Grade 2 Good
Grade 3 Satisfactory
Grade 4 Inadequate
Ouch.
There's more, in the reports letter to pupils:
"Following our visit to inspect your school, I would like to tell you about the things the inspectors
found. We have decided that your school needs to improve and we have placed it into 'special
measures'. This means that, although your school does some things well, particularly in the
sixth form, in some very important areas there are weaknesses, which we believe need to be
sorted out quickly to make your stay in the school more rewarding."
Shocking!