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16 April 2026

Tag: academy trusts

High court battle reveals ploy to make profit from running state schools

A high court showdown between a former Ofsted chair and the consultancy firm where she worked has revealed details of how a private company planned to make profits from running state-funded academies and free schools. Zenna Atkins, chair of Ofsted from 2006 to 2010, has been ordered to pay damages to her former employer, Wey […]

Ministers set out hurdles for expanding academy trusts under new ‘health checks’

Academy trusts will be judged on their schools’ Ofsted ratings, published performance measures on progress and attainment and their improvement over time before being allowed to expand as part of new “health checks”, the government has said. Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary, has previously said that trusts without a record of school improvement will not […]

Academy trust expenses claims: The dos and don’ts

It was hard not to be shocked by the Dispatches/Observer investigation into academy trust expenses and perks. The Department for Education (DfE) states that academy trusts are independent charitable companies. They are also classified by the Office for National Statistics as central government public sector bodies. While academies are responsible for their own financial management, they […]

School leaders warn of more redundancies in wake of funding formula delay

Schools face making more redundancies and multi-academy trusts will be hampered from taking over struggling schools, education leaders have told Schools Week, as the implications of the government’s decision to delay the national funding formula surface. Justine Greening announced today that plans to overhaul school funding into a national formula, which the government says will […]

Academy trust that provided advisers for RSCs to hand over its schools to new sponsors

An academy chain whose founders have a government contract to provide advisers to help regional schools commissioners judge the quality of struggling schools is to have its nine schools handed to other trusts. The Lilac Sky Schools Academy Trust (LSSAT) has been told by regional schools commissioner Dominic Herrington (pictured above) to hand over its […]

Academy trusts team up to explore founding Institute of Advanced Teaching

Teaching schools and academy chain heavyweights are exploring a unique partnership to found a new higher-education institute that would train expert teachers to tackle the leadership crisis in challenging schools. The collaboration comes as a new report, published today by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), a think tank, claims teachers working in disadvantaged areas […]

Top chief executives reveal what makes a successful academy trust

Chief executives of the country’s top-performing academy chains have revealed their secrets of success, which include having a strong vision, promoting high expectations and being more controlling. A flurry of publications over the past seven days have revealed the best and worst performing academy trusts according to how much value they add to the performance […]

MAT inquiry: Academy trust CEOs give evidence to education committee

The parliamentary education committee heard today from eight witnesses about multi-academy trusts (MATs) and their role, size, governance and performance. In front of the cross-party group of MPs for the first session were Sir Steve Lancashire, chief executive of Reach2 academy trust; David Moran, chief executive of E-Act; Lucy Heller, chief executive of Ark; and […]