academy trusts | Schools Week

Apprenticeships: how the levy and hiring targets will affect schools and multi-academy trusts

In recent weeks, readers have asked how two key apprenticeship policies will affect schools and academy trusts. They sound similar, but are actually independent policies based on different criteria. Conflating them is easy, but wrong. Political reporter Freddie Whittaker, who knows his stuff on this, takes a look. First, there’s the apprenticeship levy. This is […]

DfE multi-academy trust league tables: Who are the best and worst performers?

The Department for Education has today published its own “league tables” for multi-academy trusts, fulfilling a manifesto pledge and promises by ministers for more transparency over the academies programme. The publication of the data confirms a series of earlier analysis by experts that shows there are large differences between the performance of academy chains. For […]

20 large academy trusts ‘underperforming’, new league tables reveal

Twenty of the largest multi-academy trusts (MATs) – running more than 300 schools – fall “significantly below” the national average for improving pupils’ attainment, a major new analysis comparing the performance of MATs and councils has found. The findings, published today by think tank the Education Policy Institute (EPI), revealed stark variations in the performance […]

Durand Academy Trust must address “serious concerns” over use of public money – or face termination

A controversial south London academy is facing the termination of its funding agreement if it fails to address “serious concerns” about its use of public money and governance. The Education Funding Agency has issued Durand Academy Trust with a list of final demands, some of which must be met by August 1, if the school […]

School governance: 3 key issues right now

Emma Knights, chief executive of the National Governors Association, outlines three big issues with school governance raised at the Festival of Education. The discussions on governance at the festival very much confirmed others across the country and in Westminster since my Schools Week column last term, but three things particularly struck me. First, how little […]

What happens to our existing governing body if we join an existing multi-academy trust?

Question: What happens to our existing governing body if we join an existing multi-academy trust? Christine says: That’s a really good question because what happens to your governing body can depend on the trust you are joining. The powers trusts delegate down to local governing bodies vary across a spectrum that on one side sees […]

What do the best education system leaders do?

When I describe system leadership, what I mean is the way that groups of talented leaders work together to form plans and take decisions that have an impact on the outcomes and experiences of children in a whole community, and not just the school they attend. Why is this important? When we are planning something […]

Special schools are being ‘left out’ by academy system

Special schools are at risk of being “lost” as the government moves towards an all-academy system, a special educational needs and disability (SEND) school leader has warned. Simon Knight, deputy headteacher at Frank Wise school in Oxford (pictured), said he was worried that multi-academy trusts (MATs) saw secondary and primary schools as their “leader” and […]

Sixth-form colleges warned not to rush into multi-academy trusts

Sixth-form colleges should not rush into partnerships with schools to create all-through academy trusts, a sector leader has warned. Schools Week revealed last week how 60 of the 93 sixth-form colleges in England had told the government they were interested in becoming academies. Their interest follows a rule change that allowed the institutions to avoid paying VAT […]