TWO headteachers have been appointed in a bid to bring stability to a troubled Burnley school.

Hameldon Community College had been without a permanent head after Gill Broom left at the end of the school year.

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The Coal Clough Lane school is now being run by Peter Cunningham and Brendan Conboy, who is principal at Thomas Whitham Sixth Form College.

For many years Mr Cunningham ran Moor Park High School and Sixth Form in Preston before retiring in December.

It comes after the departure of Gill Jackson, headteacher at Archbishop Temple School in Preston, who was brought in as acting head by Lancashire County Council for the Autumn term.

It is understood Mr Cunningham and Mr Conboy will be at the school for the foreseeable future.

Mr Conboy said: “This is a medium to long term arrangement. We want to make sure there is stability so will be taking it through to the summer to give the governors a chance to decide what is the best thing moving forward.

“We are conscious of doing the best for the kids in our care.

“We want to give them the best we can and get the very best from them.

“We are both excited about the possibilities. We come from similar contexts of understanding how valuable education is and are very experienced with 30 years of headship between us.”

Mr Conboy will be at the school for a day and a half a week and Mr Cunningham the rest of the time.

Earlier this year, Mr Conboy was singled out for praise by Ofsted inspectors for ‘creating an exciting vision for the future after a period of considerable uncertainty and turbulence’ at Thomas Whitham.

He said the aim at Hameldon, which has suffered from declining student numbers with only 40 parents applying to send their children there as their first choice in the last academic year, is to raise attainment.

Cllr Gordon Birtwhistle, who represents the area on Burnley Council, welcomed the appointments after ‘many years of instability’.

He said: “Mr Conboy is an excellent head. Thomas Whitham has done well under him and I am sure he will make a good contribution to rebuilding confidence in the school.”

“There is a lot of money sat in that school and at the moment nobody has any confidence to send their children there.

“There is a lot of competition in Burnley with the new high school so they will have to work hard to get it there. I hope they are successful.”

Mrs Jackson said: “I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Hameldon. I thought the kids were a cracking bunch.

“Unfortunately I live at the far North end of the county, and it wasn’t feasible for me to continue that commute.”