Riddle of academy chain’s acquisition of free school site for �1- and the answer
How did a well-connected academy chain come to be handed the site for a free school –once owned by England’s largest local authority –for the princely sum of �1?
The question arose after a local blog disclosed last month the seemingly extraordinary tale, whereby the government had sold the site for the new Turner free school, in Folkestone in Kent, to Turner Schools, a chain which had been set up only 18 months before, for this amount.
The blog was headlined “What can you buy for a £1”, with large coins as the illustration.
And yes, the story is backed up by documentation.
Turner Schools was established in March 2016 and currently runs three schools in and around Folkestone: Martello and Morehall primaries, and the Folkestone Academy, about which this website has carried several stories.
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By Warwick Mansell for EDUCATION UNCOVERED
Published: 8 June 2018
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