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Schools Minister visits Parklands Girls High
Schools Minister Vernon Coaker paid a visit Parklands Girls High in Seacroft to praise pupils on dramatically improved results.
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Parklands in Seacroft was praised by Ofsted inspectors in June – just 15 months after it was issued with a "notice to improve".
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Much of the success has been attributed to a new partnership with high-achieving Roundhay school.
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Roundhay head Neil Clephan, one of 300 National Leaders of Education (NLE), has been providing support to pupils and staff under a government scheme.
This summer saw a 15 per cent rise in the number of Parklands pupils achieving GCSE grades A*-C.
Mr Coaker met youngsters who have benefited from the partnership and now have plans to go to university.
Mr Coaker said: "This is a great example of the importance of leadership at head teacher level and throughout the school.
"Parklands has demonstrated what can be achieved by everyone working together to improve standards."
In total there are now more than 300 NLEs available to be deployed nationally to work in 250 schools.
The scheme is being expanded to increase by up to 500 by 2012.
Mr Coaker was visiting the school the day after his boss, Children's Secretary Ed Balls sparked anger by outlining plans to make 2 billion of spending cuts.
He claimed huge savings could be made by getting rid of up to 3,000 senior staff with schools sharing the remaining top teachers in "federations."
Mr Coaker denied that partnerships such as those between Parklands and Roundhay were part of that drive to make cuts.
He said: "Things like these partnerships, academies and trusts are set up not to make cuts but to reform secondary education. If as a consequence of those improved results we can identify some savings that can be made, then that could be a way of doing it.
"But we do not set out with this aim."
He added: "We have seen some massive improvements in Leeds recently. There have been two new academies and there still money that needs to be spent in Leeds as with any other city but we are moving into a different financial climate."
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Weather for Leeds
Friday 18 May 2012
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Temperature: 8 C to 12 C
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