New Ipswich Westbourne Academy vice-principal welcomed

Dave Lee-Allan, chair of Suffolk Association of Secondary School Headteachers, stressed that a unified team would be required to solve the issues at Westbourne Academy. 

Teachers and other staff at Westbourne Academy have been on strike in recent weeks due to what has been described as "poor and disruptive behaviour from students".

But it has been announced that the strike action would be paused after the school hired a new vice-principal. 

Dave Lee-Allan, chair of Suffolk Association of Secondary Headteachers (Image: Newsquest) As well as the new vice-principal, the school has also introduced a new system of dealing with disruptive behaviour which will come into effect in the last portion of the school year. 

A statement from Academy Transformation Trust said: "A new vice principal for behaviour and pastoral care joins us after half term.

"He has successful experience and a strong reputation for improving culture and behaviour from the other schools within which he has worked."

Westbourne Academy is in Marlow Road (Image: Sarah Lucy Brown)

Mr Lee-Allan, a former headteacher at Westbourne Academy who also led Stowmarket High School, is confident the appointment can make a difference if all staff work together towards tackling the behaviour issues plaguing the school.

He said: "Dealing with behaviour is one of the most labour intensive challenges in any school, and can soak up hours of time.

"If a specialist has been sourced to add capacity to a team, that can only be a good thing.

"However, the key word is team, as no one person can tackle the issue on their own."

The new system for dealing with disruptive behaviour will come into force after the half-term break.

Teachers on the picket line outside Westbourne Academy (Image: Lucy Taylor)

Currently, if there are children who are causing disruption in class, they are removed from the lesson for two lessons and a social time.

They go to the seclusion room, where limited work is completed.

When pupils return after half term, however, students are set to be removed for just one lesson and the teacher will provide work for them.

They may go to another classroom to complete this, but if they refuse, students will go to the refusal room.

Katherine Moore, who is part of the teacher's union NASUWT (Image: Lucy Taylor) Katherine Moore, who was on the picket line at the start of the strikes, and is part of the teacher's union NASUWT, said: "We are very concerned that the destructive behaviour is affecting the students, teachers and other staff, and it's causing tremendous problems."

On the Westbourne Academy website, it states: "We need a system which allows the majority of our students to learn in a disruption-free environment, but one that also deals with those students who disrupt learning."