Baroness Berridge | Schools Week

Academy transfers fall to four-year low during pandemic

The government has spent £38.8 million moving academies between trusts since 2014, official figures show, but transfers fell to a four-year low during the Covid-19 pandemic. Analysis of new Department for Education data shows a significant drop in academies switching trusts over the past financial year, with both voluntary transfers and forced rebrokering drying up […]

New academy rules put trust autonomy at risk, say sector leaders

Sector leaders are warning the new academy trust handbook could undermine board autonomy , and demanding the government confirm whether it spells “broader intervention” in future. Most of the changes to the rebranded 2021 edition, previously known as the academies financial handbook, are simply pulling in existing school guidance from elsewhere. Minister Baroness Berridge’s foreword […]

Speed read: ‘Academy trust handbook’ 2021 published as DfE rebrands key guide

The DfE has rebranded the academies financial handbook as the academy trust handbook, with ministers dubbing the latest edition a “one stop shop” for academy leaders. The update has also seen financial notices to improve renamed as “notices to improve”, to reflect that the warnings issued to academies sometimes cover “broader governance issues”. Baroness Berridge, […]

Academies minister questions ‘moral purpose’ of single school heads

A minister has urged high-performing standalone academies not to sit in their “splendid ‘outstanding’ isolation,” as the government launches a fresh drive for every school to join a multi-academy trust. For the person sitting in their splendid ‘outstanding’ isolation, think carefully about what is your moral purpose Education secretary Gavin Williamson outlined a raft of […]

Editor asks: Baroness Berridge, academies minister

Conservative peer Baroness Berridge was appointed academies minister in February last year, a month before Covid-19 forced nationwide school closures. She spoke to Schools Week editor John Dickens in her first interview. What are your top three priorities? The first one is achieving every child in a good school. I talk about a triple […]

Break the rules and you’re out, minister tells academy bosses

The academies minister has declared there is “simply no place” in education for discredited academy bosses – and vowed to “take action” against those who flout the rules. Baroness Berridge’s threat comes after the education secretary barred a third school leader this month for breaking academy rules. Nardeep Sharma, the former chief executive of the […]