• Academy trust raids £7.7m reserves to resist cuts

    An academy trust has set aside half of its reserves to prop up its budget rather than make cuts to balance its books. Trustees at Southfields MAT used £1 million from its reserves last year as a “contribution” to the budget of Southfields Academy, and plan to use another £3 million until 2020-21. Reserves will…

    5.00 Mar. 9th, 2019 | News

  • Investigation: The highs (and occasional lows) of academy CEO pay

    Nearly half of the academy trusts ordered by the government to justify high salaries paid their chief executives more last year. Three paid their leaders an extra £40,000 or more, with another handing out a £26,000 bonus – despite the trust shedding schools. Just one in seven paid their chief executives less last year, although…

    5.00 Mar. 1st, 2019 | News

  • Kerching! The academy trusts raising millions through fundraising

    Academy trusts are raising millions of pounds through fundraising, with one trust posting “record” levels of parental donations. Sector leaders say the findings, based on annual accounts for some of the country’s biggest trusts, show there is a “deepening social divide” as government funding is squeezed. Ormiston Academies Trust has received £2.7 million since April…

    5.00 Feb. 17th, 2019 | News

  • Academy trust criticised for taking on debt-ridden schools

    An academy trust urged to expand by its regional schools commissioner was later rapped by the government for taking on schools that were struggling with debt. Board minutes from September 2017 to September 2018 for the Nova Education Trust show that it was encouraged to expand by John Edwards, the RSC for East Midlands and…

    7.00 Feb. 15th, 2019 | News

  • DfE shells out £27m to prop up struggling academies

    The government handed out nearly £4.5 million to prop up cash-strapped academies run by the failed Schools Company Trust during the year it announced closure. A Schools Week investigation has also uncovered that the new trusts brought in to take over the Schools Company academies will now be saddled with repaying most of the debt.…

    5.00 Feb. 15th, 2019 | News

  • Trust hopes PGCE ‘franchise’ will boost Russell Group grad recruitment

    A trust is in talks to “franchise” a university’s PGCE programme, allowing it to dodge UCAS recruitment and target more Russell Group graduates. The STEP academy trust, which has 14 primary academies in south London and East Sussex, is finalising an agreement with the University of Buckingham to deliver its PGCE programme. The arrangement is…

    7.00 Feb. 8th, 2019 | News

  • ‘Systematic failure’ lifts academy trust’s deficit to £2.4m

    An academy trust in charge of schools for excluded and vulnerable pupils unknowingly racked up a £2.4 million deficit because of a “systematic” failure in its financial systems. Annual accounts for 2017-18, published last week, have revealed the full extent of financial mismanagement at the TBAP Multi-Academy Trust. Leaders at the trust, which runs 11…

    5.00 Feb. 8th, 2019 | News

  • Six-figure settlement by academy trust angers union

    A teaching union wants the government to investigate a possible waste of public funds after an academy trust paid a six-figure sum to settle a legal claim from another chain. Newly published accounts for the Nova Education Trust, which runs 15 schools largely in Nottinghamshire, show another trust accused it of “breach of contract”. The…

    5.00 Jan. 18th, 2019 | News

  • 'This is about social mobility': Academy trust boss defends exclusions record

    The boss of an academy trust under the spotlight for high rates of temporary exclusions has insisted strict behaviour expectations “prevent chaos” in its challenging schools. The Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT) has been the focus of several articles this year for some of the highest rates of fixed-term exclusions across the country. As revealed…

    7.00 Dec. 7th, 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

  • What is the role of local governing bodies in MATs?

    There can be confusion about the roles of the various governing bodies in academy trusts. Sam Henson is on a mission to clear it up. Governance determines who has the power, who makes the decisions, how other players make their voice heard and how account is rendered. In a multi-academy trust, the board of trustees…

    5.00 Oct. 16th, 2018 | Opinion