A Tenby county councillor has said that he never thought in his ‘worst nightmares’ that he would see the town’s secondary School placed in ‘special measures’.

Greenhill School has two years to make improvements before special measures can be lifted by Estyn, with poor behaviour just one aspect of the problem.

Councillors heard the reasons for Estyn placing the school in special measures on Thursday (December 19), including teaching standards and performance below standard with improvements not being made quickly enough.

Cabinet member for education Clr. Guy Woodham said at full council that a further inspection would be carried out after two years before any measures were lifted.

Until then support was to be provided by the local authority and Estyn – who will visit the school each term for monitoring – to improve standards and resolve middle management issues.

Councillor Michael Williams who represents the Tenby North ward on the council, said that “pockets of poor behaviour existed that are not adequately addressed” but Clr. Woodham said the problems went beyond that.

“I never thought in my worst nightmares that I would see Greenhill in special measures,” said Clr. Williams, stating that it was affecting a generation of pupils in the area.

He also highlighted that two restructures have been carried out at the school in five years which would have impacted on staff confidence.

Clr. Willams told the meeting that he had expressed his concerns about the school prior to the appointment of the current head teacher, and at the time his concerns were not recognised and accepted.

“I find is staggering that this school which was a few years ago trumpeted as ‘the most improved school in the county’ is now in this category,” he remarked.

“One of the major contributory factors is what is euphemistically described as ‘pivotal training’. There is little doubt that the blind adherence to this philosophy is a major contributory factor to this failure.

“As a result of this there are identified pockets of poor behaviour amongst a minority of students which are not being adequately addressed.

“If this disruptive behaviour is not vigorously tackled, the effect on the overall performance is bound to be affected.

“Another failure identified is ‘inconsistent middle leadership’. What can be expected when there has been two restructuring exercises in five years.

“This left the school with no heads of departments. The outcome of this has led to a complete loss of confidence amongst staff who lack the appropriate leadership, being left to function with no departmental heads. Is that accepted?

“Given the sudden departure of the director of education, does this indicate a possibility that the authority might itself be put into special measures?

“Some of us I am sure will remember the intervention by the board appointed by Welsh Government a few years ago, when the previous administration failed our students, which was led by Judge Graham Jones.

“Having been through that, I wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone. It was extremely damaging and painful,” added Clr. Williams, who also queried whether the authority’s scrutiny committee would be conducting a full investigation of the situation at Greenhill.

Clr. Woodham said that “robust and consistent challenge and support” would continue to be provided to bring around improvements.

A senior member of staff, with successful record of improving pupil outcomes, has been seconded as associate head teacher, he added.

Councillors heard that an Estyn inspection of the local authority was due to be published in February and issues already identified by the council were likely to be included.

Slow improvement in key stage four outcomes and the standard of teaching in some schools had already been identified by the council as requiring attention, said Clr. Woodham.