Firth Park Academy: Angry parents demand change at Sheffield secondary school
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The Harry Harpham Community Centre was frothing with outrage on December 1 when 30 parents and guardians for children at Firth Park Academy gathered to voice their frustrations under one roof.


“They tried to tell each of us that our kids were just badly behaved,” said one mother. “They kept telling us our kids were bad. But we’ve got together and talked about it and now we know it’s the school doing the same things to everyone.” She was applauded.
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Hide AdIt was the first meeting of the ‘Firth Park Academy Parents’ Facebook group, which formed in October to gather complaints and has since grown to nearly 400 members made up of current and former parents.
Organiser Tom Ransom told the room: “I just want to thank everyone for coming - I know it means a lot to everyone here to know they’re not alone and want to help each other.”
A survey passed around the room asked households to write what they felt were their greatest concerns.
First on the list was “constant suspensions,” and more than half the room raised their hands when asked if their children had been suspended before.
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Hide AdThe next was children being sent to detention or isolated for entire days for everything from school uniform infractions to perceived disrespect.
But whether it was suspensions, detentions, isolations or outright exclusions, parents’ overwhelmingly felt these were being handed out for “no legitimate reason,” and were because their children had been “classed as the naughty ones” and are now being dealt with unfairly.
Another mother said: “A load of our kids have been named as ‘the bad ones’ and just want to send them to isolation or suspend them or send them to Ryegate [a children’s centre] so they don’t have to deal with them. They aren’t interested.” She was also applauded.
One parent said: “My daughter is near the end of her time at school and she’s coming up on her GCSEs, and I just feel she’s given up because they don’t act like they want to know her anyway. They just put her in isolation without any work to do.”
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Hide AdIt comes after Ofsted criticised Firth Park’s high number of suspensions at its last inspection in April, writing: “The school has recently raised the staff’s and pupils’ expectations of behaviour. This has improved pupils’ behaviour and has resulted in a large number of suspensions.
“Pupils have mixed views about this school. Pupils are adjusting to new behavioural expectations. Some pupils do not enjoy school and do not have positive relationships with teachers. Some pupils do not attend regularly and some pupils are suspended frequently.”
A new headteacher, Mrs Gemma Simon, was appointed in September replacing Mr Dean Jones. Former acting principal Elizabeth Cartledge is now the Head of School.
At the meeting, the survey listed seemingly every aspect of school life.
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Hide AdParents claim Firth Park’s SEND provision is poor and uncooperative. They feel children are judged at the school gates by teachers inspecting their uniform. Staff members’ strict, unsympathetic adherence to toilet pass policies reportedly cause accidents for girls on their periods. Some said the school was often “freezing cold.”
The prevailing sense, though, was that communication from the school had broken down and concerns from them as parents were now being ignored, paired with endless bureaucracy over what does and does not deserve a suspension, punishment, or isolation.
It was noted an email newsletter sent home last week asked parents to make appointments for sessions on December 4 to voice their concerns to the senior leadership team.
The meeting ended with one parent, Cayley Latham, calling for the school to hold regular slots for parents to have their issues addressed, and said he was prepared to “meet outside the school gates with placards” if problems persist.
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Hide AdOrganiser Tom Ransom told The Star: “My main aim today was to get everyone on the same page. It’s clear people are hot headed about it.
“It’s sad, in a way, to see everyone so angry about it, that the school has had this sort of effect on people. If this is how it makes us feel, imagine how it must make our kids feel.”
The Ofsted report in April was ungraded and it is currently graded as ‘Good’. However, inspectors wrote: “...the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now. The school’s next inspection will be a graded inspection.”
Department for Education figures show seven suspensions per 100 pupils were handed out by schools in Sheffield in the 2023-24 autumn term, a record high.
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Hide AdThey show the number of total suspensions in England dished out rose by two fifths in a single year, with the Association of School and College Leaders warning the "whole system is teetering on the brink of collapse".
The Star contacted Firth Park Academy and its trust, Lift Schools, for comment.
A spokesperson said: “Our families’ views matter to us enormously, and we want to make sure that we are taking the time to listen deeply to their feedback on what works well, as well as ways in which we can make our partnership with families even stronger.
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Hide Ad“As part of this, we are hosting a series of listening sessions this week, which will provide an opportunity to explore any questions or concerns.
“We recognise that the SEND provision in school needed improvement and we are working hard to ensure that all learners get their entitlement to quality provision.
“We have a clear behaviour policy which seeks to address issues of behaviour appropriately, fairly and proportionately.
“Students are encouraged to use toilet facilities at appropriate times during the school day... Staff are encouraged to use their discretion when a student requests to use the toilet.
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Hide Ad“On some occasions the school uses an out-of-circulation [isolation/reflection] approach to manage behaviour, appropriate work is provided for pupils. This is provided through a supervised study space.”
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