Old school ties honour BCA
A host of bright red school ties has appeared on the gates of a former Bath institution. Bath Community Academy, formerly known as Culverhay, closed for good last month after it was declared “financially unsustainable”. It marked the end of an era for the community of south Bath, where the school in Rush Hill was very much at its heart. Since its closure, past students have been showing their fondness for the school. A number of old school ties, some of them signed, have been left on its gates in a moving gesture of farewell. Names such as Cody DG, Charlie M and Jack Williams can be seen scrawled on the red ties in black pen. Lansdown 2016-2018 and the initials KLF appear on other ties beneath the familiar BCA insignia in white. Bath Community Academy was taken over by a multi-academy trust in a bid to escape council closure six years ago. But the Cabot Learning Federation declared it “financially unsustainable” and it was shut down for good on July 24. It was very much a local school with a large percentage of children who walked to school from the surrounding areas such as Twerton, Whiteway and Southdown. Former acting head Sean Wyartt said: “It is a reflection of our education system that a school like Bath Community Academy should be allowed to close. It is badly needed in that area. “We had our struggles during my time there, there were some challenging pupils, but I have taught some fantastic young people there with massive potential. “Our education system values only one thing, results, there is a lot more to education than that,” he said. Culverhay received a ‘good’ inspection under Mr Wyartt’s acting headship, shortly before it was taken over by Cabot. Mr Wyartt said: “It is so sad because pupils and parents really started believing in themselves, they really felt they could achieve something and now they are back to square one. ”Many of the pupils will now go to other secondary schools in the city, but for some it will be two bus rides to St Mark’s in Larkhall or other schools. Some former staff have been reemployed at other schools run by Cabot. Formerly an all boys school, generations of the same families went to Culverhay, and it was not unusual on parents evenings for teachers to be confronted with parents and even grandparents who they had taught as well as their children.