Academy trust spends £235,000 on one-day “celebration” event for staff and governors

Cost revealed through FOI, as union tells Education Uncovered of plans to ballot members on strike action over lengthening of school day.

An academy chain spent nearly £250,000 on a one-off “celebration” conference for its staff – to the consternation of some of its teachers, who argue that the money would have been better spent in the classroom, Education Uncovered can reveal.

Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT) paid £235,823 for the event last month at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, at which more than 4,000 of its staff and governors attended for a day which the trust described as both a celebration of its 15 years as an organisation and embracing professional development, though teacher sources were scathing about the benefits.

The controversy comes as, Education Uncovered can also disclose, the National Education Union is to ballot members in 13 of OGAT’s secondary schools for strike action over the trust’s plans to extend the school day by half an hour from September.

Outwood Grange told me it was a "well-run and financially strong academy trust" and that "the vast majority" of feedback following the conference had been "very positive".