A group of academies and free schools lauded by Michael Gove has been given a final warning after a devastating investigation by the Department for Education into allegations of falsified records, bullying, infighting, email hacking and conflicts of interest among senior staff and trustees.
The report into Cuckoo Hall academy trust in London [pdf] by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) - which is responsible for funding and monitoring academies – was followed by an official reprimand [pdf] known as a financial notice to improve, and a formal letter from DfE officials ordering changes.
Martin Post, a DfE schools commissioner, informed the trust in the letter that if changes weren’t made, the education secretary would intervene to terminate its funding agreement – effectively stripping the trust of control of its five schools, including three free schools.
Among the most serious allegations is that the trust’s staff falsified safeguarding records of employees before an inspection by Ofsted, and that financial controls were not followed.
The investigation follows a highly public falling-out between trustees last year, leading to the suspension of executive headteacher Patricia Sowter and her husband Phil, who is the director of the trust which runs Cuckoo Hall primary school in Enfield, London. The pair were later reinstated and the trust’s chair removed by fellow board members.
“In the EFA’s view, relations between some trustees and some senior staff had degenerated to the extent that there was a serious breakdown in management and governance, to a degree which would entitle the secretary of state to intervene in accordance with the funding agreement,” the EFA report published late on Friday reads.
The EFA’s investigation also reported: “We noticed credit card statements in the name of staff that left several months ago, high credit limits and some credit card spend without supporting documents or inadequate supporting documents.
“There was insufficient consideration of value for money involved when using credit cards – for example, there was a high amount of purchases from Ikea and high-end supermarkets.”
The EFA also said that nine of 28 staff members complained of bullying while a further 10 complained of negative attitudes.
Cuckoo Hall primary was one of the first of its type to voluntarily convert to academy status under rules brought in by the Conservatives in 2010. Gove and the prime minister, David Cameron, visited the school, with Gove publicly praising Sowter as a superhead. Previously rated outstanding by Ofsted, the school was downgraded to “good” by inspectors last year.
The schools run by the Cuckoo Hall academy trust include Woodpecker Hall Academy and Kingfisher Hall, both primary free schools, Heron Hall secondary free school, and Enfield Heights primary, which was recently taken over by the trust.
In a statement, the trust said: “Today’s report refutes a number of unfounded allegations, but we accept some of our policies and processes have not developed as they should have as the trust has grown from a single school to a five-school chain.
“We have made mistakes but we have been working constructively with the EFA to address these issues over the last few weeks.”
.jpg?w=600)
