John Townsley

Sir John Arthur Townsley is a British educator.

Biography

Townsley began teaching in Leeds c. 1987 at John Smeaton High School. He spent ten years at The King's School in Pontefract, before becoming Deputy Headteacher at Prince Henry's Grammar School in Otley. He became headteacher at Morley High School in 2003. The school had been rated Satisfactory by Ofsted before his appointment, but after a 2009 inspection it was upgraded to Outstanding; it then became an Academy in 2011 under Townsley's leadership. The school then became an Academy sponsor an linked with Farnley Academy in Leeds and several primary schools to form part of the Gorse Academy Trust; Townsley had taken over leadership at Farnley in 2009, and saw it increase from an Inadequate Ofsted ranking in 2009 to Outstanding in 2013. He also became Executive Headteacher of the Ruth Gorse Academy free school in Leeds.[1][2][3] Townsley was knighted in the 2015 New Year Honours "for service to education".[3] However, in 2016, he attracted national media attention for threatening to sue parents who complained of his management practices in a private Facebook group. According to The Independent, been accused of bullying tactics by teachers at previous schools and some parents in the Facebook group had likened him to "a dictator"; referring to Townsley one grandparent added that the Gorse Academy "is answerable only to one giant ego".[4]

References

  1. ↑ Lindsay Pantry, "New Year's Honours: Leeds headteacher given knighthood", Yorkshire Evening Post, 31 December 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "Sir John Townsley", The Gorse Academy Trust, 7 April 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  3. 1 2 Darren Evans, "Inspirational educators recognised in New Year's Honours list", Times Education Supplement, 30 December 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  4. ↑ Rachel Pells, "Academy chief threatens to sue parents over 'dictator' comments on Facebook", The Independent, 9 June 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.