Red House Academy (RHA, formerly Hylton Red House School) is an 11–16 mixed secondary school with academy status in

Hylton Red House Hylton Red House, known locally just as Red House (often spelled as Redhouse), is a suburb in the north east of Sunderland, England, situated between Downhill to the west and Marley Pots and Witherwack to the east. The area, Hylton Red House, ...

, Sunderland,

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newc ...

, England. It was formerly a community school and adopted its present name after becoming an academy in 2009. It is part of the

Northern Education Trust Northern Education Trust is a multi-academy trust operating in the North of England. It was established in 2010 and operates 22 academies; 10 primary and 12 secondary. In 2017 it was instrumental in setting up the Northern Alliance of Trusts. H ...

Controversy

Hylton Red House School

In 2007, the school attracted controversy regarding a training programme for

call centre A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center ( American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephon ...

operators. The programme was set up in conjunction with

EDF Energy EDF Energy is a British integrated energy company, wholly owned by the French state-owned EDF (Électricité de France), with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of natural gas and electricity to homes and businesses through ...

which has a call centre in the area. For pupils, successful completion of the course provided half of the credit of a GCSE examination. Local adults were also able to participate. The assistant headteacher, Helen Elderkin, claimed the programme was successful, providing students with "a taste of a real working environment" and helping to build their confidence. However, Howard Brown, Sunderland secretary of the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NUT members endorsed a proposed merger with ...

, criticized it as "a step too far".

Academy

Serious question were raised about the school's approach to its pupils when it was revealed that they suspended over 50% of their pupils in 2017–2018 against a national average of 2.3%.

References

External links

* Northern Education Trust schools Academies in the City of Sunderland Secondary schools in the City of Sunderland Sunderland {{TyneandWear-school-stub