Community gets ready to say a very fond farewell to a much-loved friend

Bath Community Academy, formerly Culverhay School, closes its doors for the last time at the end of this term. It will mark the end of an era for a school which has been at the heart of the community in south Bath. Many people have been sharing fond memories with the Bath Chronicle of a school which was truly a local school in every sense of the word.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, July 24, Bath Community Academy, or Culverhay as most locally still call it, will close its doors to secondary school children for the last time. It will no doubt be a sad and nostalgic day for pupils, parents and staff past and present to say goodbye to a school which has been at the heart of a very strong community for decades. The school, formerly Culverhay, is very much a local school with a large percentage of children who walk to school, mostly from Twerton, Whiteway, Southdown and other areas in south Bath. 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 Learning Academy in 2012. 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 away to St Mark’s in Larkhall or other schools. Some staff have also been reemployed at other schools run by Cabot. Previously 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. Former head of special educational needs at Culverhay, Lois Gumm, who taught at the school for more than 30 years, is organising a reunion on July 13 and Walcot rugby club in Landsdown has offered the premises free of charge for what should be an emotional evening. There will be a bar and ploughman’s lunch and an opportunity to meet up with previous school friends and colleagues and exchange memories. Ex-pupil Luke Taylor, who runs a successful media company in Bath, has made a film featuring local people’s memories of the school, and this will be played at a celebration in Bath Abbey on July 19 at 7pm. Pupils, parents and staff past and present, and anyone connected with the school, are all welcome to both events. The Cabot Learning Academy defended its decision to close Culverhay. It said: “Given the overall high numbers of places available in schools in Bath compared to the relatively low numbers of pupils seeking places at Bath Community Academy (BCA), it was clear that the current mainstream provision at BCA was not financially sustainable and would have to close. “The decision to close BCA was taken with an extremely heavy heart. It is clear that those who know the school well are great supporters of its work and this development was being met with understandable sadness. “This is a sadness shared in the Cabot Learning Federation. “This was a difficult decision made at the end of a long period of consultation with Bath & North East Somerset Council, the department for education and the regional schools commissioner. “The buildings and site will be handed back to B&NES for the council to decide its future. “The Cabot Learning Federation will not gain any financial benefit by handing the buildings and the site back to B&NES. “A total of 17 BCA staff have been redeployed across the Cabot Learning Federation Academies. “We undertook a commitment when the decision to close BCA was announced that BCA staff would work tirelessly to arrange alternative education for BCA students. “All of the local headteachers in Bath have supported BCA in making offers to families and all students have the offer of a school place in September. “The school is continuing to work with families who have made requests outside of the city.” Parent and local campaigner Sarah Moore said: “We fought a long campaign to save Culverhay from closure and when the academy option was proposed we agreed to pursue this route and not the free school proposal we had put together. “We felt this was potentially the more sustainable option due to the experience of the Cabot Federation. “I am saddened they did not invest in BCA in the way we were assured and as such this has led to the closure,” she said. Former teacher Tracy Johnson told the Bath Chronicle: “I think it is an utmost tragedy. The communities of Twerton and Whiteway deserve to have a good local school which serves it well. “Culverhay was that school and we fought so hard to keep it open when it was under threat of closure from the council. Our meetings at The Guildhall literally stopped the traffic, such was the support for our cause,” she said. The school, in a more hard pressed area of Bath, did face many challenges in recent years having been put in special measures at one time but it had received an Ofsted ‘good’ shortly before being taken over by Cabot. Many local people and educationists still feel a school is badly needed in that area.

The decision to close BCA was taken with a very heavy heart... those who know the school well are great supporters of its work