academy trusts | Schools Week

Schools No One Wants are in limbo – here’s what needs to change

The system for rebrokering schools needs reforming to better support vulnerable schools and pupils during the transition to a new academy trust, argues Mary Riall Inadequate’ academies are too often left unsupported for long periods while their transfer to a new multi-academy trust is negotiated, even though we could make simple changes to address this. […]

The Expandables: which academy trusts are supersizing?

To kick off the first term of 2017-18, Schools Week has delved into the data on academy trust expansion over the last year. Although the headlines have been full of trusts shedding their schools, populations are booming at many others. We set out to find out what is driving this growth. Twenty academy trusts grew […]

Auditors flag increase in financially ‘unviable’ academy trusts

Auditors are increasingly raising the alarm about academy trusts at risk of running out of money, with chains raiding reserves and eyeing expansion to pay off deficits. A Schools Week analysis of annual accounts has revealed a prevailing picture of “unviable trusts”. The Rodillian Trust, which sponsors three schools in West Yorkshire, used more than […]

Revealed: The 23 trusts that broke rules over £4m related-party transactions

Twenty-three academy trusts breached funding rules last year when they made payments of more than £4 million to companies related to members of their staff or trustees. For the first time, Schools Week can reveal who the trusts are and the 26 transactions in which they failed to show they were fully compliant with rules […]

Multi-academy trusts swap data systems for Progress 8

New performance measures such as Progress 8 have led some multi-academy trusts to move away from traditional data-system providers. “Added layers of complexity” have helped to shake up the management information system (MIS) market at present dominated by Capita SIMS, which supports more than 80 per cent of schools. But a desire to access data […]

Accounts Watch: Academy trust chief gets £85,000 severance pay-out

An academy trust chief executive who resigned after a misconduct investigation received a payout of of more than £85,000. Denise Shepherd was suspended as chief executive of the Thinking Schools Academy Trust (TSAT), which runs 10 schools in Kent and Portsmouth, in May last year. It was reported in a national newspaper that a whistleblower […]

Brooke Weston academy trust invests £1m in stocks

Entrepreneurial academy trusts are taking advantage of their cash freedoms to make six-figure profits by investing in stocks and shares, a Schools Week investigation has found. The Brooke Weston Trust, which runs ten academies, has made £176,000 interest after putting £1 million of its reserves in an investment fund. The fund is managed by HSBC, […]

School with £1.3m debt now faces closure over inadequate Ofsted

An academy that racked up a £1.3 million deficit last year is now facing closure, but only after the government stepped in over an “inadequate” Ofsted. The Education Fellowship Trust (EFT) has been issued with a termination warning notice for Wrenn school in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, by Martin Post, the regional schools commissioner for north-west London […]

Revealed: ‘Paused’ academy trusts are ducking their ban

Academy sponsors banned by the government from taking over new schools seem to have dodged the prohibition. Figures obtained by Schools Week show that 57 sponsors at different times have been put on the government’s “pause list” and told they cannot take over new schools. Bans remain in place for 16, who between them are […]