AN INTERIM body has now stepped in to run a troubled primary school in South Croydon after its board of governors was fired.
Regina Coeli Catholic Primary in Pampisford Road was put into special measures by inspectors in November after years of sliding down the Ofsted scale.
At the time a meeting was called where angry parents demanded the then head teacher Donal McCarthy take responsibility for the school's decline and step down.
Then at the end of December, Mr McCarthy announced his abrupt resignation after more than 21 years of working at the school.
In a letter to parents, the chairman of governors at the time, Hogarth Andall, said the "past few years have been difficult" but the school is now in a "stronger position" to move forward.
However, Mr Andall and the rest of his board have now been dismissed and replaced by an interim executive board (IEB) which will oversee the school until it is deemed to be improving.
The new chairman, David Prince – who is also the chairman of governors at Good Shepherd Catholic Primary in New Addington – told parents the Department for Education (DfE) had approved an application made by Croydon Council and the Catholic diocese for an interim board.
"The IEB remit is to recommend the best direction for the school and the pursuit of urgent yet sustainable improvement," Mr Prince said.
The team is made up of five people – two chairmen of governors at the Catholic primary school, the ex-CEO of the Catholic Education Service and two other governors.
Mr Prince said the IEB had held talks with the deputy head teacher, Ursula Hargrave, who is now running the school, and Mike Cullinane from the Diocese Education Committee to begin plans to improve the school.
Mr Andall's wife, Nicolina, said: "All the governors have been replaced and we are just normal parents now. The new body has made a number of promises so we will see how it goes."
One parent, who campaigned for the removal of Mr McCarthy, said the school now had one of the most qualified and robust board of governors in the country.
"They've been directly picked by the diocese and the DfE so we're pretty confident," the parent said.
However, others have criticised the level of Catholic influence over the school arguing that although it is a Catholic school, many of the parents and children there are not Catholic.
"Now we have two Catholic schools involved in the school and no head," a parent said.
St James the Great Primary, in Thornton Heath has partnered the school since it began to struggle two years ago with its head teacher Stephen Beck acting as consultant head.
Croydon Council has not yet indicated whether the primary will be turned into an academy or who its sponsor may be.
