Chapeltown Academy, a free school in North Sheffield, was established under very specific principles.

It has always aspired to be an academically focused and caring Sixth Form, to achieve the best results for every student. This year, the establishment has achieved its best ever results and is recognised as North Sheffield’s top provider for A-Levels. This Academy’s teachers have bravely given everything they have to ensure that the students could achieve only the best - something which is typically only found in the private sector.

“If it weren’t for Chapeltown, I wouldn’t be at Cambridge. The style of teaching instituted by the Academy was crucial in enabling my achievement. But what made Chapeltown so great is rapidly being eroded”- Harrison Jennings

What’s going on?

Our short history of attainment, excellence and success is already being put under threat.

Power has been unequivocally placed in the wrong hands. Chapeltown Academy, in September of 2017, accepted Dayle Coe as its new Head teacher. Since then, drastic measures have been taken to restructure the Sixth Form in such a way that gravely diminishes its core values and poisons the culture of the school. For example:

• Attentive and valuable teachers are being made redundant – leaders who were at the forefront of the Sixth Form’s establishment, such as Antje Pieper and Juliet Rowson. This even includes Ali Jaffer, a founder of the Academy and former Interim Head teacher. These teachers are irreplaceable.
• This also jeopardises the provision of the Oxbridge preparation programmes that these teachers in question led.
• Non-academic A levels have been threatened to be added to the school’s curriculum such as Drama and PE, which have been shown to be advertised in the college, despite protest from students.
• The Academy will be brought under a Trust which jeopardises the aforementioned core values of the Academy and does not facilitate the retention of its ethos.
• A beloved teacher was suspended in May, on the grounds that she had not notified Dayle Coe of a letter we intended to send to the Governing Body severely undermining student trust.

 

How bad is it?

The tremendously poor effect this has had on students thus far is evident in a variety of ways:

1. 119 Students and parents wrote and signed a letter to the Governing Body in May this year outlining their fears, with unfortunately no response.
2. Students organised a walkout in protest against the loss of their teachers, in which they were then told they were misinformed about by the head teacher, once again giving the excuse of “saving money” as a seemingly valid reason.
3. Students then formed the organisation Chapeltown Alumni in order to try and protect the core values of the Academy and create a voice against the structural changes, clamouring for their teachers to return to their rightful posts.

Chapeltown Alumni seek to prevent the head teacher from eroding the high-achieving, academic, family atmosphere that he attempts to take credit for, despite the stress and intimidation he put students through last year.. Current students feel too intimidated to speak out after their Strike and former students have persistently vouched for the Headteacher’s detestable behaviour. Chapeltown Academy will lose its heart, its atmosphere, students will walk away and it will descend into mediocrity.

Therefore, what can be done?

We firmly recommend that Dayle Coe should leave Chapeltown Academy, voluntarily or through termination.

There is clear evidence to confirm that Dayle Coe is very poorly suited to be a guardian of the school’s values or an educational leader. His decisions in the last 12 months have created a toxic and negative environment, broken the trust of students and reflect a lack of understanding of the academic mission of the school.

 “Dayle assumed I wouldn’t get good grades and told my parents I wouldn’t get much higher than a D...Dayle had continuously put me down throughout y13 only for me to end up with a B in biology.”
– Charlotte Ost

Students, parents and teachers will continue to be persistent before a stubborn Governing Body. Today, we request your help to defend our Academy against a misguided and misplaced Leadership, who are consciously or unconsciously damaging the school’s core values day by day. As we try to amplify our message, we seek the support of credible leaders in education and policy and the general public in Sheffield in order to embolden the current students, awaken the Governing Body into action, and save Chapeltown Academy from poor leadership.

We encourage you to enquire about our story and listen to what we have to say. This is a dire situation for us and protecting the future of the students of Chapeltown Academy is our greatest priority. We cannot stand idly by whilst our Sixth Form’s livelihood is in jeopardy. We ask that you pledge your support through this E-petition so that we can see our Academy be restored to being a high quality, academia-orientated institute with teachers who genuinely care and dedicate their lives to its ethos.

If you have any queries, please don't hesitate to contact us via the website:

www.chapeltownalumni.org

Or visit our Twitter Account!

@ChapeltownAlum2

 For more information on why we've set up an E-petition, please visit:

https://www.chapeltownalumni.org/home/why-we-made-an-e-petition

Thank you for reading! Please sign!