• Tory peer’s academy trust seeks unpaid workers

    An academy trust founded by a Conservative peer is advertising for unpaid volunteers to fill key roles, as plans for another free school bite the dust. Newly published accounts for the Floreat Education Academies Trust, founded in 2014 by Lord James O’Shaughnessy, a former aide to David Cameron, show “very low pupil numbers” forced it…

    7.00 Jan. 11th, 2019 | News

  • Investigation: The schools that slip through the council finance net

    Thousands of council schools have not had their finances independently scrutinised for more than five years – three of which were last audited by their local authority nearly 20 years ago. Schools Week can also reveal that council schools have been breaking rules over tax checks, issuing contracts and unauthorised pay rises for staff. And…

    5.00 Dec. 14th, 2018 | News

  • Revealed: The 50 academy trusts that cut chief executive pay

    The government has named 50 academy trusts that have cut executive pay following pressure from officials. A list, sent to Schools Week under the freedom of information act, reveals the names of the trusts that have stopped paying salaries of either £100,000 to £150,000 or over £150,000. However this does not include any trusts that…

    11.06 Dec. 12th, 2018 | News

  • Bright Tribe probe ‘will be published’, vows academies minister

    An investigation by the Education and Skills Funding Agency into allegations of wrongdoing at the doomed Bright Tribe trust will be made public after all of the chain’s schools have moved to new sponsors, the academies minister has pledged. In an exclusive interview with Schools Week, Lord Agnew said the under-fire trust had been “too…

    5.00 Dec. 2nd, 2018 | News

  • 'I’ve got to stir up a bit of controversy here': Agnew defends Champagne wager comments

    The academies minister is frustrated that schools aren’t listening to him. In the 14 months since his appointment, Lord Agnew of Oulton has made it his personal mission to encourage schools to make more savings on their back-office functions, and attracted his fair share of ire from headteachers as a result. And the venture capitalist-turned-academy…

    7.00 Dec. 1st, 2018 | News

  • Minister 'at war' over academy CEO pay defends Moynihan's £440k salary

    A minister who claims to have “declared war” on excessive executive pay in academies has ruled that the £440,000 annual salary of England’s highest-paid academy chief is “reasonable”. Lord Agnew, who is leading the Department for Education’s clampdown on largesse in academy pay, told Schools Week he had spoken to the Harris Federation about the…

    7.00 Nov. 30th, 2018 | News

  • It's a Dwan deal: Trust founder's brother gets rent-free premises for nursery

    A failed academy trust gave the brother of its founder rent-free premises for ten years to run a private nursery on the site of one its schools. The Adventure Learning Academy Trust (ALAT), the sister-trust of the crisis-hit Bright Tribe Trust, signed a deal to let a nursery company owned by Andrew Dwan, brother of…

    5.00 Nov. 30th, 2018 | News

  • Private firm took 8% fee for superhead’s second salary

    The firm that was paid £1.3 million to provide services to Perry Beeches Academy Trust took an 8 per cent management fee to pay the trust’s chief executive a second salary. Liam Nolan was banned from teaching this week over his role in the trust paying the £1.3 million to Nexus Schools without a contract…

    7.00 Nov. 10th, 2018 | News

  • Hammond’s ‘little extras’ may not go directly to schools

    Academy trusts will be able to pool the money their schools are awarded from the £400 million “little extras” pot and dish it out as they deem appropriate, Schools Week understands. Philip Hammond, the chancellor, pledged the in-year bonus during last week’s budget, suggesting the money could be spent on computers or whiteboards. He said…

    7.00 Nov. 9th, 2018 | News

  • The four biggest issues with academies, according to Sir David Carter

    Former national schools commissioner Sir David Carter tells editor John Dickens his biggest regret in government, insists he didn’t lose the battle for education with Ofsted, and admits academy autonomy is waning.   The four academy issues that need tackling NOW Sir David Carter said the system needs to improve in four areas “right now”,…

    7.00 Nov. 6th, 2018 | News

  • Send annual reports to better engage with parents, Carter tells academy trusts

    The former national schools commissioner has urged academy trusts to send out “annual reports” to parents, admitting their engagement with local communities is an area of “real uncertainty”. Sir David Carter, in a wide-ranging interview with Schools Week, said trusts should look at producing an annual report for parents, which he likened to the report…

    7.00 Nov. 2nd, 2018 | News