academy trusts | Schools Week

Year in review: a governor’s perspective on 2015

Governors have been in the headlines this year. Compulsory training, paid chairs and vice-chairs, and no more stakeholders have all been mooted. But what will work – and why? School governance now attracts the interest it deserves with both education secretary Nicky Morgan and Ofsted bringing aspects of it to the fore. There has been an increased […]

You don’t need to be paid to do a professional job

Sir Michael Wilshaw is right: governors need professional development. But he’s wrong about the money. It would be a mistake to do away with the voluntary nature of governance altogether Governance is getting better. Boards are taking their development seriously, many more understand performance data than five years ago, and far more are concentrating on […]

£850k on academy trusts with no schools? It’s a problem. But let’s not start a mass hysteria

On Wednesday, more than 40 pupils were treated for sickness and feeling faint at a school in Ripon, North Yorkshire. Around 11.30am a call went in to the ambulance service to despatch to the school. In the following hours, increasing numbers of pupils were treated. In the office we watched anxiously. Searches were immediately done […]

How to understand your academy’s finances

It can be daunting, but academy trustees are legally bound to understand the financial position of their school. Read on . . . Academy trust finances continue to be a hot topic and one of concern to many of those responsible for them. The board of trustees, or governors, shoulder this crucial obligation and must ensure academy […]

Key questions for multi-academy trust boards

About one in five state funded schools in England is now an academy, and more than half of those are governed by one board of trustees in a multi-academy trust (MAT). The number – and proportion – of academies within a formal group is growing as governing boards realise the risks of remaining isolated, particularly […]

PAC Round-Up: What happened in today’s scrutiny of Durand Academy and related businesses

Sir Greg Martin, head of Durand Academy, today faced questions from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over the work of his school, its academy trusts and connected companies. The hearing followed a National Audit Office (NAO) report released last year, that raised concerns about “related-party transactions” made between the trusts and associated private companies. Here’s […]

It’s not unusual… to have conflicts

Properly managing conflicts of interest and related party transactions is an essential part of the proper management of a school At the end of 2014, the National Audit Office highlighted concerns about the high level of “related party transactions” entered into by academy trusts. While the report and much of the linked media coverage focused […]

Federations should not be swept under the MAT

Multi-academy trusts are on everybody’s lips, but don’t dismiss the federation option In an era of increasing school autonomy and declining local authority capacity, the need for schools to work collaboratively is greater than ever. There are a variety of ways schools can do this, from loose partnerships to more formal arrangements involving shared governance […]