School Awards and Achievments

Teaching Award 2009: Winner of the Royal Airforce Award for Headteacher of the year in a Secondary School in the West of England.

Allen McConaghie has made a huge impact at Cleeve School, since his arrival in 2000. During that time, he has proved to be an inspirational leader, who has embraced change, secured three specialisms and led the school to an outstanding inspection report.

From the start, he recognised that the buildings were inadequate to deliver his educational vision. He has campaigned tirelessly to raise money and his efforts have seen the opening of an £8 million art block and a £5 million purpose-built vocational centre for delivering the new Diplomas.

He believes that the staff are the most important resources in the school. There are almost as many support as teaching staff at the school, and Allen has allowed even senior managers to be flexible with the hours they work. One of his greatest strengths is ability to develop leaders of the future. He puts his absolute trust in staff and the senior staff are encouraged to embrace leadership roles. Colleagues say Allen will never make a mediocre appointment, and will not settle for second best.

Allen lives and works to the Cleeve motto ‘Raising aspirations, Raising achievement’, Staff and students are encouraged to be ambitious and take on challenges, whether of an academic or personal nature. As a result, there is a real hunger for success in the school.

A parent-governor said: “There is an embedded belief that all pupils should be given the opportunity to fulfill their potential across academic and applied learning and be given the chance to be involved in numerous other activities to develop as an individual. I am so pleased that my children have been given this chance.”

Allen’s dedication to pupils continues even after they have left the school. He has been mentoring a student who is finding post-16 life difficult and regrets his behaviour at school. Allen is providing him with English and maths tutoring and will enter him as an external candidate for his examinations.

A colleague said: “Allen runs a large organisation but never loses site of the core business of the school – supporting and ensuring the success of the students. He goes out of his way to support and encourage all students to achieve their very best.”

Judge said: “Allen goes the extra mile to build all youngsters as he wants every child to do his / her personal best.”

Teaching Awards 2009: Winner of the TDA Award for Teaching Assistant of the Year in West of England.

Helping children learn is about more than just imparting subject knowledge. Pat Vinson recognises that youngsters who are troubled or unhappy will find it hard to concentrate, so she tries to find out what makes them tick, and how she can steer them back on track. As one colleague said: “She understands that people’s lives take unexpected turns and do not always fit into one conservative box.”

Pat supports some of the most vulnerable pupils at Cleeve School in English and art lessons, and encourages them to use their creativity to express themselves. She delights students by reading Steinbeck in her Oregon accent, bringing the story alive, or recalling tales of her youth in San Francisco in the 1960s.

Pat, who has been at the school for 12 years, is likened to the ‘Grand Dame’ of teaching assistants. Colleagues marvel at the way in which pupils they consider unruly or untouchable clamour around her, inspired by her work, and her kindness and patience. “Pat is full of magic,” one said. “She takes no heed of the teacher that says 'that child simply won't...’. These and other barriers are simply cast aside by Pat who views them as interesting obstacles to overcome.”

When pupils are asked what they think of Pat their thoughts are often summed up into one work, “legend”. They know they can talk to her about anything, without fear of judgment or condemnation, and are often rewarded for their hard work with mints or a few words of praise. One ex-student said: “I wouldn't have made it through school without her.”

Pat works closely with agencies such as Connexions, educational psychologists and advisory teachers, who are all part of her armour to address the needs of her pupils. Once she understands why a child has put up barriers around them, then she knows how to reach them. Pat has been instrumental in the way special needs have been delivered at the school, and she is always willing to support and share her expertise and resources with colleagues.

Judges noted that Pat had a “natural bond with children” and used “a range of methods to engage young people in the learning process”.

Teaching Awards 2008:Winner of the DCSF Award for Govenor of the year in West of England.

The 2007 ICT Innovation Award sponsored by Oracle Education and awarded by the Education Business Awards

Specialist Schools Trust Clubs for high achieving specialist schools

The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) is the leading national body for secondary education in England, part funded by the DfES, delivering the Government's Specialist Schools and Academies programme. The Trust seeks to give more young people access to a good secondary education by building networks, sharing practice and supporting schools. The Trust's way of working is based on the principle 'by schools for schools.' The Trust is at the heart of a growing network of over 2900 schools including primary, secondary, special schools and academies. Since gaining its first specialism in 1997 Cleeve School has achieved a number of accolades through the trust:
In 2004 Cleeve gained membership of the 70% Club is for those specialist schools which achieved 70% or more 5+ A*-C at GCSE. We also joined the Most Improved Schools Club for showing a rise in GCSE performance of more than 10% over several years and became a member of the Value Added Club which is reserved for specialist schools which have added value, in terms of GCSE results in 2004, of more than 10 percentage points between 'actual' %5+ A*-C and that predicted from the schools Key Stage 2 (junior school) average point score in 1999.
We retained our membership of the 70% club in 2005 and then became a member of a new club, the 60% EM Club which is for those school who exceed 60% A*-C including English and maths

The RM Award 2004 for best practice in the use of ICT in creating an active learning community

In 2004, Cleeve School’s excellent work as a technology college resulted in the prestigious RM Award which was presented to the Headteacher Allen McConaghie at the Special Schools national conference .

TES/Ramesys Learning Environment Awards 2004

Mrs. Bright (Mathematics) and Mr. Kinder (Technology) entered Cleeve into the ‘Learning Awards’ hosted by Ramesys (an I.T. firm) and the Times Education Supplement. The award was entitled “Sharing Good Practice Through ICT” and Cleeve had to show how we use ICT to reduce teacher workload and improve the professional experience of all staff, as well as how we share our ICT knowledge with the wider community. There were 150 applicants nationwide, of which only a select few made it through to the second stage of the competition. This involved an assessor visiting the school. The assessor was very impressed with the fact that the use of ICT was central to school life. Following the success of the assessor’s visit Cleve made it through to the final stage of the process, which involved travelling to London and giving a presentation. It was given to a panel including the UK director of Microsoft, the Managing Director of Ramesys and the assessor who visited the school