Author: John Dickens

Government promises and rising costs will eat up much of the £7.1 billion additional funding pledged by ministers – leaving just £14,000 extra per school, a union claims. The Association of School and College Leaders said its own calculations show just £300 million will be left over for schools to reverse years of cuts. The […]

A whistleblower in a SATs cheating probe was scared off from giving evidence after a “threatening” legal letter from the accused trust. NET Academies Trust (NETAT) was given the go-ahead to take over ‘inadequate’-rated Waltham Holy Cross primary school, in Essex, in October. The conversion was delayed following the launch of an investigation into allegations […]

Another round of letters warning schools of their legal duty to promote apprenticeships will be fired off to headteachers across the country tomorrow. Education secretary Gavin Williamson told sister newspaper FE Week the letters will be issued by academies minister Lord Agnew, who also has the FE market in his brief (full letter below). Williamson […]

The leading body for school governance wants academy trust chairs also serving as members to give up one of their roles to end a “minimal elite with a disproportionate ability to mark their own homework”. It comes as a Schools Week investigation finds 34 of the 52 largest academy trusts have an academy trust chair […]

An academy trust founded by a Conservative party peer has been warned over its finances after running up a £1.1 million deficit. The Lubavitch Multi-Academy Trust (LMAT) was issued with a notice to improve on Wednesday last week over “weak financial management and governance”. The trust, which runs three Jewish schools in Hackney, London, and […]

Ofsted has apologised and overturned a provisional ‘inadequate’ judgment after an academy trust complained that inspectors had not understood its “innovative” new curriculum. Park Academy West London was found to have “serious weaknesses” after a two-day visit in November. Aspirations Academies Trust, which runs the school, lodged a complaint about the “deeply flawed” inspection before […]

Ofsted inspectors will trial wearing body cameras during inspections of suspected illegal schools. From next month, inspectors will use body-worn video cameras to record evidence during the inspections as the watchdog attempts to secure more prosecutions against those that flout the law. More than 600 possible illegal schools have now been investigated by Ofsted, but […]

An academy trust ordered to justify its pay by the government handed its chief executive a £60,000 pay rise last year, as salaries for bosses of larger trusts start to rise again. The total pay of Paul West, chief executive of the Spencer Academies Trust, which runs 20 schools in the East Midlands, rose from […]

The “internal political challenges” around pooling school funding is hindering take-up amongst academy trusts, despite ministers advocating for the change. A survey by global accounting network Kreston of 170 trust clients in December found that 17 per cent have now shifted to pooling their general annual grant (GAG), and another 39 per cent are considering […]