Brendan Loughran, Principal

Brendan Loughran (47) is Principal and Chief Executive of Darwen Aldridge Community Academy. He was appointed in January 2007 as Principal Designate and has been Principal of the Academy since it opened in September 2008. In the five years previously, Brendan was Headteacher at Westhoughton High School, a Specialist Technology College in Bolton. He led this school through a period of significant change and improvement including the acquisition of specialist school status, a successful Ofsted inspection, developing a community outreach programme and improving results from 37% to 52% of students gaining 5+ A*-C at GCSE. This record of success is the firm foundation upon which he has built his commitment to developing DACA to deliver a first class education for the young people of Darwen and a provision that reaches out to the whole community.

Brendan has worked in education in the north west of England for 26 years, including teaching in schools in Knowsley, Trafford and East Lancashire.

He sits on a variety of local community boards and the Children and Young People’s Trust. He chairs the North West Regional Advisory Committee for the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics and is a Trustee of an education charity based in Bolton.

Brendan is married, has two sons and lists his sporting interests as mountain biking, skiing, hill climbing and football. He has been a season ticket holder for Everton FC for over thirty years.