The Education Guardian has revealed details regarding a dispute between Oasis Academy Wintringham, in Grimsby, a Department for Education (DfE) inspector and the academy chain, which led almost the entire governing “council” of the school to resign. The unpublished minutes of recently held meetings revealed that the RSC for the area visited the school in March 2015, offering a different view to that given by Ofsted in October 2014, causing lasting conflict and disagreement within the school’s entire governing body. The worrying state of the school led the RSC to issue a “pre-termination warning notice” to the academy in March, threatening the loss of the school. This warning, along with the resignation of the head teacher, led to six out of seven governors also resigning. Oasis has claimed that “errors in communication” were responsible. The dispute has shed some light on the level of autonomy given to governing bodies by academy chains, although the DfE has declined to comment.

In a separate article, The Guardian has revealed that the new post of “super-official,” the regional schools commissioner (RSC), is coming under increased pressure as it is expected to supervise over 5,000 academies, whilst also eyeing up schools for possible conversion. In many cases, workloads have reportedly become so large that RSCs are now receiving help from DfE civil servants. The disparity between their job description and the current workload has invoked criticism, particularly as many regional directors previously claimed they lacked the capacity to deal with such a large number of schools.

According to an official statement from the National Union of Teachers (NUT), teachers at the Hartsdown Academy in Margate, Kent, have been blamed for failing leadership. Claiming that teachers are being punished via a series of “lesson observation warnings” from management, the NUT quoted one teacher as saying that a lesson plan was sent via email after the associated class had already commenced. The college was transferred into new ownership in September, following a damning report from Ofsted into the previous academy trust, Stem Academy Education Trust. Despite the new managers, the Aspirations Academies Trust, resolving all but one issue with the NUT last week, over the warning practice, that issue remains a sticking point. The Trust has argued that the lack of a warning from Ofsted about inspections lies responsible for the warnings.

In a separate matter, a head teacher and former inspector for Ofsted, Andrew Morrish, has resigned from the regulatory body after being asked to edit aspects of a blogpost that were perceived to be critical of the organisation. Morrish received a phone call from a senior national director at Ofsted, during which he was told that a blogpost in which he claimed that the inspection system was flawed was “not befitting of an inspector.” Morrish refused to edit his post, which resulted in his resignation, stating that he preferred to maintain his right to write freely. An Ofsted spokesperson has commented on the situation, saying, “We do not believe in censorship,” but that inspectors should not “undermine confidence in the inspection system”.

Author

  • madeleineporter

    I am a 34 year old educational blogger and volunteer and student. I love to help others learn and grow. I have a strong interest in creativity, education, and social justice. My blog is currently focused on writing about my education and community work. I hope to continue doing this for the rest of my life.