After Ofsted judged it was failing its pupils, it was eventually closed.

It re-opened in 2004 with a new name - Ladybridge High School - and a new direction formed by a partnership with Rivington and Blackrod High School, a successful 450-year-old school nearby.

“We needed something which would bring rapid change,” said John Baumber, who is now its executive principal.

Mr Baumber had been Rivington’s head for six years.

When he took on the new Ladybridge school as well, the two formed the Brook Learning Partnership - named after the river running between them.

But this is not a “federation” of schools, where one successful school merges with another school in difficulties, Mr Baumber says. This is what he calls a “collaborative restart”.

“People in the area of the old Deane School consistently tried to get their children into Rivington - this was a brand they understood and gave them confidence.

“Given all the changes which had taken place at Deane, if you were a parent there you would be asking why this one would be any different.”

‘Awesome’ changes

The two schools are run by one business management team and board of governors but each has its own head and staff.

When Ladybridge was created, Rivington teachers were allowed time out to give support and direction to its new staff.

Walking around the large, modern and calm Ladybridge School gives you no sense of the “challenging circumstances” in which it is set.

Head teacher Jo Gabler listed some of them as poor literacy skills, lack of parental support and a intake.

But pupil behaviour is now a strength rather than a perpetual problem.

The pupils are part of a success story - whether they like it or not Jo Gabler

Alex and Zak, both 15, said their old Deane School may have been branded a failure, but they remember good things about it.

“I don’t think the teachers were given enough time to turn things around,” Alex said.

“There were good teachers.”

“It wasn’t as bad as people thought,” Zak agreed.

But both also remember the poor behaviour which prevented them from progressing.

The all-round changes in standards and behaviour at Ladybridge are “awesome”, Zak added.

Ms Gabler says it is not acceptable for children to spend so long in a school where standards are poor.

Ladybridge demands high quality teaching and a corresponding level of pupil and involvement in the school.

“Some of the kids here are just brilliant,” she said.

The school’s culture changed to “praise praise praise” immediately upon re-opening.

“Our ethos is one of achievement and generating a feeling of success, at whatever level.”

And it nurtures their “emotional intelligence” - laying the foundations for learning in building their self-esteem and social skills.

Moral responsibility

It is easy to see the partnership’s beneftis for Ladybridge - but what about Rivington?

Its head, Tony Purcell, explains that as local people have confidence in the new school, Rivington becomes less .

It currently has around 300 pupils more than its ideal number.

Bolton youth services worked with the partnership to create new facilities

But Ladybridge is welcoming new pupils every day.

“Within this school we felt a moral responsibility to support pupils within the west of Bolton,” Mr Purcell said.

“And we can benefit from a lot of the things which Ladybridge is trying.”

This responsibility and community awareness seems to underpin the drive to create another successful school in the area.

The school’s leaders would like to take the pressure off Rivington, and allow it to expand its oversubscribed sixth form.

But they also want all local schools to be good ones, out of a desire for children to have the best opportunities.

Trust schools?

The partnership has also brought together the successful Rivington Primary School with Lord Street Primary.

It bid for 1m to build a new primary school which encompasses youth and drama facilities and a new public library.

Youth services for all Bolton’s nine to 19-year-olds are provided at Rivington and Blackrod High School.

And John Baumber has become acting head at a third local secondary school, whose head teacher resigned suddenly.

Brook Learning Partnership has become a local brand of its own.

The primary school’s library has now become a public library

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly is the area’s MP and has kept a close eye on developments.

So could the partnership become a model for the new breed of “trust schools” she wants to see?

Ms Kelly wants not-for-profit trusts to develop specialisms and a particular ethos for schools.

“We pull in a range of services to work together with us, including youth and health services and counselling,” Mr Baumber said.

“If a trust school means an opportunity to work with partners while having greater control of them to meet youngsters’ needs, we’re all for it.”

But he said he thought it more likely that successful school leaders would want to give direction to other schools, rather than outside organisations.

Ladybridge has a link with several Swedish schools which are “independent state schools”, which is part of the trust school idea.

“Ruth Kelly has often said to all schools that she learns a lot from all the schools in her constituency,” Mr Baumber added.

“If that helps form policy, then that is great: policy founded in practice.”

Teenagers like himself, who could tell him about their experiences of Hodgkin’s disease and prepare him for what lay ahead.

But he found little aimed specifically at his age group.

Because of his own experiences, Vishal decided to share his story on special website ‘Youth Health Talk’, which has launched this week to help young people learn about their health from their peers.

These are teenagers first and have an illness second Dr Ann McPherson, Dipex founder

The inspiration for the site came from the experiences of a girl with cancer.

She had heard about the Dipex - the Database of Individual Patient Experience - site for adults which colleagues of her father ran, and wanted something similar for people her own age.

Sadly, she died before the site was completed, but staff have dedicated the cancer section to her.

Vishal, now aged 19, from Leicester, said knowing there were other teenagers going through the same problems as him would have made it easier.

“It is a really hard place to be,” he explained.

“It would have helped me to have been able to read about others, if it had been positive.

“On TV, you hear all the sad stories about people dying - and that does not help your motivation.”

‘I wanted to be a pilot’

Vishal is now two years into remission, but said doctors originally gave him a 50/50 chance of survival.

At first they thought he might have chronic asthma but then, as his breathing became worse, they suspected tuberculosis and he was kept in isolation.

However tests confirmed that it was Hodgkin’s disease.

He had lymphomas - cancers of the lymphatic system - in his neck and near his heart.

“I was pretty shocked when I found out I had cancer,” he said

As a teenager, he was faced with having to make decisions about his adult future - such as having to bank his sperm in case the treatment had made him infertile.

He said: “You do not know what is going on. Your whole life goes on hold.

“I missed out on lots of my growing up. I spent a lot of time in hospital and missed a lot of school.

“And when I was ready to go back I felt that I did not really fit in.

“Before my diagnosis, I had wanted to be a fighter pilot and had chosen my subjects to fit in with that, but that all had to change.

“I stopped growing at 5′ 8′’ when I started the treatment and because of all my health problems I could not join the forces so I had to think again.

“Now I am doing art - a foundation diploma in design - and I want to become a painter.”

‘People worse than me’

He said the chemotherapy had been gruelling - sometimes stretching to 18-hour sessions.

He felt sick and could not eat, but said he remained positive by ticking off each session and thinking “one less to go”.

“The cancer made me put everything into proportion and learn to appreciate everything.

Cancer treatment can affect fertility

“Because of the treatment you feel very sore and numb and you are puking, but I used to think that there were people who were worse off than me.

“There were little babies who were in this pain and who didn’t know what was going on and could not do anything about it.

“There is always somebody worse of than yourself.”

Dr Ann McPherson, medical director and co-founder of the Dipex site, said the new section canvassed young people on all aspects of their health, from being diagnosed with a serious illness like cancer and diabetes to giving their views on sexual health, relationships, alcohol, smoking and drugs.

“Young people talk candidly of their fears, their worries, their feelings about sex and relationships, their ways of coping when illness strikes and of how health services have helped them.

“These are teenagers first and have an illness second.”

Dr McPherson said she hoped that as well as giving support and to the users the site, which includes and over 30 testimonies from young people, could also act as an educational tool for health professionals.

Children’s author and supporter Philip Pullman agreed.

He said that, although personal testimonies were not a for medical care, that they were an important addition.

“True stories are not the best medicine, but they are nutritious and sustaining.

“They feed the mind with information and the heart with hope and strength.

“Nature and medical science together can do a great deal to help our bodies and minds heal themselves, but the real experiences of others who have been through the same troubles gives us the that sustains >us in the meantime,” he said.

After Ofsted judged it was failing its pupils, it was eventually closed.

It re-opened in 2004 with a new name - Ladybridge High School - and a new direction formed by a partnership with Rivington and Blackrod High School, a successful 450-year-old school nearby.

“We needed something which would bring rapid change,” said John Baumber, who is now its executive principal.

Mr Baumber had been Rivington’s head for six years.

When he took on the new Ladybridge school as well, the two establishments formed the Brook Learning Partnership - named after the river running between them.

But this is not a “federation” of schools, where one successful school merges with another school in difficulties, Mr Baumber says. This is what he calls a “collaborative restart”.

“People in the area of the old Deane School consistently tried to get their children into Rivington - this was a brand they understood and gave them confidence.

“Given all the changes which had taken place at Deane, if you were a parent there you would be asking why this one would be any different.”

‘Awesome’ changes

The two schools are run by one business management team and board of governors but each has its own head and staff.

When Ladybridge was created, Rivington teachers were allowed time out to give support and direction to its new staff.

Walking around the large, modern and calm Ladybridge School gives you no sense of the “challenging circumstances” in which it is set.

Head teacher Jo Gabler listed some of them as poor literacy skills, lack of parental support and a multi-lingual intake.

But pupil behaviour is now a strength rather than a perpetual problem.

The pupils are part of a success story - whether they like it or not Jo Gabler

Alex and Zak, both 15, said their old Deane School may have been branded a failure, but they remember good things about it.

“I don’t think the teachers were given enough time to turn things around,” Alex said.

“There were good teachers.”

“It wasn’t as bad as people thought,” Zak agreed.

But both also remember the poor behaviour which prevented them from progressing.

The all-round changes in standards and behaviour at Ladybridge are “awesome”, Zak added.

Ms Gabler says it is not acceptable for children to spend so long in a school where standards are poor.

Ladybridge demands high quality teaching and a corresponding level of pupil responsibility and involvement in the school.

“Some of the kids here are just brilliant,” she said.

The school’s culture changed to “praise praise praise” immediately upon re-opening.

“Our ethos is one of achievement and generating a feeling of success, at whatever level.”

And it nurtures their “emotional intelligence” - laying the foundations for learning in building their self-esteem and social skills.

Moral responsibility

It is easy to see the beneftis for Ladybridge - but what about Rivington?

Its head, Tony Purcell, explains that as local people have confidence in the new school, Rivington becomes less .

It currently has around 300 pupils more than its ideal number.

Bolton youth services worked with the partnership to create new facilities

But Ladybridge is welcoming new pupils every day.

“Within this school we felt a moral responsibility to support pupils within the west of Bolton,” Mr Purcell said.

“And we can benefit from a lot of the things which Ladybridge is trying.”

This responsibility and community awareness seems to underpin the drive to create another successful school in the area.

The school’s leaders would like to take the pressure off Rivington, and allow it to expand its oversubscribed sixth form.

But they also want all local schools to be good ones, out of a desire for children to have the best opportunities.

Trust schools?

The partnership has also brought together the successful Rivington Primary School with Lord Street Primary.

It bid for 1m to build a new primary school which encompasses youth and drama facilities and a new public library.

Youth services for all Bolton’s nine to 19-year-olds are provided at Rivington and Blackrod High School.

And John Baumber has become acting head at a third local secondary school, whose head teacher resigned suddenly.

Brook Learning Partnership has become a local brand of its own.

The primary school’s library has now become a public library

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly is the area’s MP and has kept a close eye on developments.

So could the partnership become a model for the new breed of “trust schools” she wants to see?

Ms Kelly wants trusts to develop specialisms and a particular ethos for schools.

“We pull in a range of services to work together with us, including youth and health services and counselling,” Mr Baumber said.

“If a trust school means an opportunity to work with partners while having greater control of them to meet youngsters’ needs, we’re all for it.”

But he said he thought it more likely that successful school leaders would want to give direction to other schools, rather than outside organisations.

Ladybridge has a link with several Swedish schools which are “independent state schools”, which is part of the government’s trust school idea.

“Ruth Kelly has often said to all schools that she learns a lot from all the schools in her constituency,” Mr Baumber added.

“If that helps form policy, then that is great: policy founded in practice.”

A type 1 diabetic since the age of seven, she and her family had always taken care to ensure she checked her blood sugar levels and had her injections on time.

But when she hit puberty she started to react against her regimented lifestyle.

Sarah wanted to become a performing artist and believed she was competing in an industry that rated thinness above all other qualities.

Damage

Sarah, now 27, and from London, started taking risks, such as missing out on meals, and developed an eating disorder.

Her sugar levels went haywire and Sarah’s diabetes started out of control as she did untold damage to her body.

You never think it will happen to you Sarah Caltieri

“Because my life was so centred around eating, I thought I would not make it in my chosen career because you have to be skinny,” she said.

“I was warned about the complications that could happen if I carried on, but you never think it will happen to you.

“I wasn’t realising the damage I was doing to my body. It’s not something that was at the forefront of my mind.

“It was the fact that I was fat. I needed to be thin to be a singer and to be an actor.

“And that was the only way I was going to make it.”

The retina is damaged when blood vessels haemorrhage

Sarah started starving herself and bingeing - and missing injections.

She lost weight, but found her problems meant she could not on learning her lines or singing so had to put her career on hold.

One day she felt really ill at work and was hit with the realisation that if she did not act soon she could die.

“I think that was the point when I said to myself: ‘Right, I need help’.”

Help

Sarah went for counselling, got her blood-sugars under control and started feeling better.

But her sight had been badly affected and deteriorated to the point that she had to be registered blind.

Her kidneys were also damaged, but they have since recovered.

Ironically this was when Sarah decided to pursue her performing arts career full-on and has played a number of lead roles.

Although delighted with her success Sarah said she is determined not to get into just playing disabled people.

She is also determined her experiences should help others and so introduced and featured on the newly launched diabetes section of special website Youth Health Talk, to help young people learn about their health from their peers.

Resource

Dr Ann McPherson, medical director and co-founder of Youth Health Talk and an Oxford GP, said the site was a valuable resource for young people wanting to hear about the experiences of others.

“During the teenage years, people find it very difficult to manage and I think it is important for them to be able to get help from someone other than a .

“I know from my own experiences in dealing with teenagers with diabetes, that they want to be the same as everybody else.”

She said young people on the site discussed their experiences of diabetes and managing injections as well as the effects of alcohol and contraception.

A spokesman for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) said the site should provide a good place for teenagers to share experiences.

“We hope it will be a useful online resource for young people with type 1 diabetes to find out how others live with their condition and that it will provide support to them.

“While the aim of JDRF is to find a cure for type 1 diabetes, it is important that people with diabetes have access to resources and information that will help them to live lives less severely affected by the condition until we have that cure.”

Cathy Moulton, care advisor at Diabetes UK, said: “Managing diabetes can be particularly difficult for teenagers.

“As it’s the most common age for the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, many youngsters will not only be dealing with the usual teenage issues, but also struggling to come to terms with their condition.

“The Youth Talk website is an excellent way to not only raise awareness of diabetes, but to also help teenagers learn from others in the same position. It is a great source of information and includes useful signposts to other areas of support.”