BEV Hughes took the chance to catch up with her sister during an initiative aimed at turning round failing schools.

Minister for children and families, Bev Hughes, visited Hope High School, where her sister Sharon Hughes is assistant headteacher, as part of a tour of schools in ‘Greater Manchester Challenge’ areas.

The Greater Manchester Challenge links the Stretford and Urmston MP’s department and the 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester in a bid to turn around failing schools.

Hope High, where only 23 per cent of pupils leave with five good GCSE grades, was last week named as one of the country’s failing schools.

The government has given schools that fall below its 30 per cent target an ‘improve or close’ ultimatum, but since Hope is set to close in September anyway, re-opening as the Oasis Academy, it is unlikely to be affected.

During a meeting with the minister, Sharon Hughes, and Hope High pupils aged 11 to 14 described the steps that the school is already taking to improve.

Easing the pressure

Year 9 pupils are being given the chance to sit GCSEs early, easing the pressure when they get to Year 11, and after-school learning is strongly encouraged.

The youngsters described their hopes of careers in journalism, graphic design, law, football, building, dance and marine sciences. They explained how they were encouraged to work together in class, to gain IT skills, and how they had class teachers, rather than moving to different teachers for different subjects, in a system similar to the one used in primary schools.

Sharon Hughes described how competence-based teaching was making a difference.

Bev Hughes noted the physical improvements made to the school since her last visit, when she had been ‘really shocked’ by its ‘Spartan’ condition.

Later, the minister told the M.E.N. that the Greater Manchester Challenge was ‘a concerted focus, with additional money for helping all the schools in Greater Manchester to improve and open up the opportunities that we have heard about in Hope High’.

"Clever"

She added: “We know our youngsters in Greater Manchester are as clever as anywhere, but they are not achieving the results they are capable of.

“By enabling schools to learn from each other we can really help lift levels of attainment for many more children.”

When asked why Greater Manchester schools had a history of poor performance, the minister said: “It’s not an excuse, but we have high levels of deprivation and disadvantage, with some communities in the country’s poorest 10 per cent.

“Obviously, it’s more difficult for children from very challenging backgrounds to achieve because of other things in their lives and in communities where parents themselves didn’t get much out of school the expectations and aspirations of the family are often too low.

“Many of the schools that taught in those disadvantaged areas also thought those children weren’t capable of very much. A culture of low aspiration is the enemy of kids achieving their potential. The Challenge process is about cutting through that – our children can achieve what they want to and we can give them the wherewithal to do it.”

The National Union of Teachers is against the creation of new academy schools, a process which Hope will go through in September. Ms Hughes said she thought this was motivated by a fear that the system ‘takes something away from them as teachers’. She added that there was ‘nothing to fear’ about academies, which were targeted at helping inner-city youngsters, and said assumptions about them should be put aside.

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