academies | Schools Week

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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”, […]

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 […]

MPs’ stern warning over ‘incoherent’ system and costly, ‘risky’ academisation

A powerful committee of MPs has warned that the government failed to properly scrutinise the early stages of the academies programme and has not learned from its high-profile failures. A report by the parliamentary public accounts committee into the government’s record on converting schools into academies found the Department for Education “did not pay enough attention” […]

Academy autonomy ‘has no positive impact in the classroom’

Almost half of academy leaders believe that the extra autonomy granted to academies has no positive impact in the classroom, according to new analysis by the Sutton Trust. Thirty per cent of academy senior leaders who took part in a poll on the additional autonomy that comes from academy status said it had “no effect” […]

Investigation: The ups and downs of academy CEO pay

Our annual analysis of chief executive pay in the largest academy chains once again reveals huge variations, including between men and women, and pay per pupil and school. We looked at trusts with more than 20 schools in 2016-17. Sir Dan Moynihan of the Harris federation came top of all CEOs for salary, with a […]