The man who decided to make the Hewett School an academy has revealed his disappointment after its GCSE results fell, one year after its conversion.
Last year's decision by regional schools commissioner Tim Coulson to appoint the Inspiration Trust as sponsor of what is now the Hewett Academy has been his most controversial during his first two years in the job.
It converted in September 2015, and, one year later, the proportion of its pupils gaining A*-C in English and maths fell from 43pc to 37pc.
Mr Coulson said he was 'really disappointed', and added: 'The Inspiration Trust is one of the top sponsors. However, they have not made as much progress at the Hewett as I had hoped. I have talked to them. It has been very tough turning it around.
'We are on the same page. They are agreed with us that it was not good enough progress. We have agreed that we will be on their back this year to be expecting that progress does get much better.'
He pointed to much better results at some of its other schools, and government research naming it as a top academy sponsor in England.
'Am I confident they will do it? Absolutely,' he added.
After this summer's results were released, Hewett principal Tom Leverage said: 'This has been a challenging year for students and staff, as we made much needed changes to the school to drive up standards for the future.
'With a new leadership team now in place and substantial investment in teaching facilities this summer we are in a good position to make improvements in the future.'
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