The Highcrest Academy

A HIGH Wycombe school is celebrating being shortlisted for two major national awards – just 12 years after fighting its way back from extinction.

 The Highcrest Academy in Hatters Lane is just one of six schools in the country to reach the final of the Secondary School of the Year competition in the prestigious TES Annual Awards. In addition, its Principal, Shena Moynihan, is also in the final six shortlisted for Headteacher of the Year at the same event in London in July.

The news marks another step in a remarkable transformation after the closure of the failing Hatters Lane School in 2001 after a damning Ofsted report.

 Hatters Lane was shut down permanently, and Highcrest Community School was created on the same site under the Government’s Fresh Start initiative. It later became an academy in 2011 and last year became the first All Ability Academy in Bucks.

Ms Moynihan, who has been at the helm of Highcrest since the start, is thrilled the academy is in line for a national award.

She said:"This is a real accolade for the school. Just to be shortlisted is a major achievement and serves as acknowledgement of all the hard work by students, staff and governors of Highcrest." Highcrest also reached the final of these awards in 2011, and she believes it is the only school to have been shortlisted twice. 

She added: "Obviously I am also proud to have been shortlisted for the Headteacher of the Year award, which has been made possible as I am in the fortunate position of working with excellent staff and lovely, remarkable young people." The Principal’s pride was shared by pupils, some of whom helped make a special video on Monday to be shown at the awards ceremony.

One Year 10 pupil said: "Highcrest is an amazing school. It has helped me and all the students who attend to achieve their full potential. It is a true reflection that the school and Miss Moynihan are being acknowledged."

The video has been produced by Richard Carr of Bucks TV.

Highcrest’s amazing rise from the ashes of Hatters Lane is clearly illustrated in its exam achievements - in the last year of Hatters Lane, 13per cent of students gained 5 x A*-C in their GCSE’s; last year 96 per cent of students gained 5 x A* - C - and in the fact that it is now so heavily over-subscribed.