Academy chief executive, operating 19 schools in region, appointed to that region’s Headteacher Board

Future meetings of one of England’s eight regional Headteacher Boards (HTBs) seem likely to run the risk of descending into farce following the latest under-the-radar appointment to the advisory bodies, whose recommendations can be crucial to schools’ futures.

The chief executive of one of England’s larger academy trusts has been appointed onto the board operating in a region in which his own chain already controls no fewer than…wait for it… 19 schools.

In a little-noticed development – little-noticed, because, as with so much of England’s now in-private system for deciding school control, there was no official announcement* – Paul West of the Spencer Academies Trust has joined the East Midlands and the Humber headteacher board, advising the DfE’s Regional Schools Commissioner (RSCs) there, John Edwards.

The boards would appear to have a central role influencing the prospects of academy trusts operating in their regions, as they make recommendations to RSCs on which schools should join which academy trust, and even, increasingly now, on takeovers of one trust by another.

The government’s much-questioned way of dealing with any notions of possible conflicts of interest – with chains often desperate to expand, can those who lead regionally-active trusts really make recommendations entirely objectively? – is to get any board member in such a position to leave the room.

But how often would that happen in the case of West, whose chain sprawls across the cities of Derby and Nottingham and the neighbouring counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire? It seems likely that future meetings will now echo to the sound of a repeatedly-creaking door, with West forever leaving his seat and re-taking it.

While there is no suggestion that any criticism would be personal against West or his academy chain, Education Uncovered could understand if the move had caused disquiet among other local academy trusts.

It is certainly enough to have academy observers snorting with derision at the perceived inadequacy of the “leave the room” approach, one describing it as a “ludicrous pantomime”.

It is not as if complaints about this process have not existed for years, now.

Back in 2015, discussing the HTB system, the-then National Governors’ Association had told MPs that “simply excluding the individual from the discussion and formal decision making process does not mean they do not unconsciously or consciously affect the decision,” while the-then general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, Russell Hobby, also took issue with the approach.

As with so much about this system, in which almost all stakeholders in decisions are left out entirely from decision-making, this seems a highly questionable development.  

A “state of the art” gloss on recent history?

News from an architectural firm that a “state-of-the-art” new free school building had opened in south-east London did not prompt quite the reaction from this observer that its public relations people might have hoped for.

Yes, my jaw dropped on receiving a press release about the 12,300 square metre Eden Park High School building in Beckenham.

The first thought was to wonder how local residents would react if they were to read that this gleaming “£16 million” new facility had opened on what this announcement breezily described as “previously disused public parkland”.

For nearly four years ago, (see the fourth story here) I had reported about local people’s fury after the academy trust running this school had cleared woodland from the proposed 11-acre site before having planning permission.  A resident, Kate Woodyatt, was quoted at the time in the local Bromley Times complaining that “large cranes and bulldozers have destroyed what is locally considered a beautiful haven for wildlife”.

Another resident, Eddie Seymour, told the paper: “They’ve come in and turned woodland into a brownfield site…it’s terrible.”  

The other reaction was to be mildly surprised that the trust left in charge of this major development remains so, after what has happened in the ensuing years.

The Education for the 21^st Century chain was the subject of one of the more dramatic controversies within the academies sector in recent years, as reported on in detail by Education Uncovered.

The leadership of that chain has since changed, following DfE intervention. But, with other controversies having led to the outright disbandment of trusts such as Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT), Silver Birch, Perry Beeches and Bright Tribe, close observers of England’s system might find it curious that E21C has survived, indeed without even rebranding itself.

Mass departures from academy trust board in North-East

Finally, is this some kind of record?

No fewer than seven trustees of an academy trust in Redcar, North Yorkshire, have been registered on its page at Companies House as having left this autumn, over a period of just over seven weeks.

Given that the Galileo Multi-Academy Trust only lists eight trustees in its last set of published accounts, this seems like some achievement.

Mass departures of trust directors almost inevitably come amid behind-the-scenes controversies. So this seems to be an organisation to watch.

*West’s appointment appears to have taken place with little or no publicity: there appears to have been no announcement, and there is virtually no information on the relevant DfE webpage as to when he was appointed, why, and whom he replaced.

In fact, West replaced Andy Burns, chief executive of another multi-academy trust, Redhill, who has stood down.

The only sign of this change on the DfE’s page for this Headteacher Board is available to alert readers who, clicking on a link saying “show all updates” to it, then arrive at a note saying that, on October 31st, the “membership” of the board was amended so that the names of Burns and another former member – Roisin Paul – were removed, with that of West added.

West was simply appointed by Edwards to the board, which currently has only three elected headteacher members, out of six. These elected members, of course, are the system’s only link to any form of local democracy, although their electorate comprises only the headteachers of successful academies.

The Regional Schools Commissioner and Headteacher Board system was created in a few months during  2013-14, in private by civil servants, in response to the then-Education Secretary, Michael Gove, deciding that there needed to be some kind of “middle tier” operating beyond local authorities in England.