Beleaguered chain of free schools appoints new interim CEO and announces “partnership” with local academy trust

A chain of free schools which has been in turmoil in recent months has announced the appointment of an interim chief executive and plans for a “partnership” with another local academy trust, while a high-profile former Department for Education official has joined its board.

Canary Wharf College (CWC), which runs a secondary and two primary academies in Tower Hamlets, East London, had been operating without having announced who was leading it, following the departure of its controversial former chief executive Joanne Taylor in late October.

Yesterday, parents were informed by John Afolayan, the trust’s chair, that it was entering into a “formal partnership” with the University Schools Trust (UST), which currently runs four schools in Tower Hamlets and Greenwich.

Gillian Kemp, who is billed as its “trust leader” by UST, has been appointed as CWC’s interim chief executive.

In his letter, Dr Afolayan wrote: “In October I wrote to you with news that Joanne Taylor had decided to step down from her role as CEO of Canary Wharf College and our plans to determine interim leadership arrangements.

“Following a rigorous and robust process, I can now inform you that we have successfully negotiated a formal partnership with University Schools Trust (UST) to support us while we seek long-term leadership for CWC. Gillian Kemp (UST’s Trust Leader) will be our interim CEO with support from her senior leadership team.”

The future tense in the above statement, in relation to Ms Kemp, seemed curious, given that official DfE governance records on the school state that she started work as CWC’s accounting officer two weeks ago, on November 28^th. The position of accounting officer, with accountability for an academy trust’s accounts, is a formal role usually filled by the chief executive.

Ms Taylor’s employment at CWC runs until the end of the year, but the announcement from the board, which Education Uncovered reported on October 22^nd, said that she was on leave from her post of CEO from that week. She stood down from CWC’s board on November 27^th.

Also last month, on November 14^th, Tim Coulson was appointed to the board. Mr Coulson is a veteran of education leadership, having served as a DfE Regional Commissioner for the East of England and north-East London, overseeing academies, from 2014 to 2017, before taking on his current role as chief executive of the Unity Schools Partnership academy trust.

I understand that Mr Coulson was supportive of CWC during its less turbulent years under its founding executive principal, Sarah Counter. For example, a newsletter from the trust dated October 2016 stated that Mr Coulson had visited and “commented that he fully supports the vision, ethos and standards of education that we offer”.

Another of CWC’s trustees, Andy Yarrow who himself runs a small chain of academies based in Farnborough in Surrey, is also rumoured to be standing down from CWC, though there is no public record of this as yet.

Back story on Ms Kemp and UST

Gillian Kemp has featured in Education Uncovered before, though not for a while. Back in 2019, I covered the remarkable tale of how Ms Kemp was working simultaneously as executive headteacher of Cyril Jackson primary school in Tower Hamlets, which at the time had been a local authority school, and as the director of education for UST.

Cyril Jackson, rated “outstanding by Ofsted” under Ms Kemp’s leadership, was to put forward a proposal to join UST itself, with a consultation beginning shortly after Ms Kemp left the school to work full-time at UST, where in September of 2019 she was promoted to chief executive.

A parent group at the time complained that Ms Kemp should have played no part in the consultation process about Cyril Jackson joining UST, but that in reality, it stated, she “was the leading advocate for UST academy conversions at the parent consultations”.

In November 2019, Education Uncovered reported how governors had taken the decision on Cyril Jackson joining UST while Ms Kemp had been combining her role leading the school with working four days a week at the academy trust, as its director of education at the time.

Education Uncovered reported in March 2020 that the consultation on Cyril Jackson joining had had to be extended, after the local authority had “raised concerns” around a potential conflict of interest. The consultation was re-started in September 2020, and Cyril Jackson did eventually academise and join UST, but not until November 2021 – nearly two years after governors had first applied.

Remarkably, UST is now listed on Companies House and in DfE records as based at the same address as Cyril Jackson primary school.

UST also featured extensively on Education Uncovered in 2018 in relation to the chain’s attempt to take over the John Roan school in Greenwich. That move was eventually abandoned in December of 2018, with that school’s control eventually going to the United Learning Trust.

The University Schools Trust has not featured on Education Uncovered in recent years, however, suggesting a period, perhaps, of relative stability under Ms Kemp. During the Cyril Jackson controversy, the trust was reported in 2019 to have been interested in growing up to eight schools in the following three to four years, a position it would reach if the “partnership” of CWC were to become a formal merger/takeover.

DfE letter indicates some intervention in CWC

A letter from the Department for Education to the local Labour MP, Apsana Begum, after she had met it in October to talk about CWC, suggests that government officials have been involved in some of the recent changes at the trust, during what it acknowledged had been a “turbulent” time.

The letter, from an official in the DfE’s “regions group” and dated November 22^nd, stated: “DfE Regions Group (RG) is engaging closely with CWC trust following the recent turbulence and supporting the trust board to bring greater stability. Following the departure of the CEO, the trust are in the process of considering interim leadership arrangements. RG are providing support and challenge to ensure that these will be robust and fit for purpose. We have advised the trust that the interim arrangements should be put in place at the earliest opportunity.

“We are now supporting trustees to strengthen governance of the trust. They have now appointed an additional trustee with strong experience and expertise in the sector [Dr Coulson]. They also plan to carry out a skills audit and appoint further new trustees in the near future. We have discussed with trustees the need to improve relationships with their stakeholders, including parents and staff. We know this is a priority for trustees and a clear criteria [sic] for them in terms of the interim leadership arrangements which they are in the process of putting in place.”

A large group of parents at the trust’s schools launched a complaint back in spring last year about a range of concerns including overcrowding in classrooms and the way staff were being treated, which has yet to be fully considered by the trust. The DfE’s letter suggested that this process may be being progressed, now, stating: “The trust have also confirmed that arrangements for the stage 3 panel hearing of the parental complaint are being finalised and will take place shortly.”

Schools operating beyond their agreed sizes

The issue of overcrowded classrooms continues to be a problem. In March, Education Uncovered reported how a senior Tower Hamlets council official had warned that CWC’s two primary schools could have to close if it continued to admit children in numbers beyond those agreed by the DfE and the local authority.

The schools had been set up to operate with smaller class sizes than is usual for state primaries, with their funding agreements limiting pupil numbers to 280 at each academy, so 40 per year group or 20 in each class. Parents have made the point that the classrooms are not large enough for larger numbers, with permissions from the council and the London fire authority based on the above capacity.

However, official DfE data for 2023-24 show that the two CWC primaries – East Ferry and Glenworth – had 337 and 340 pupils respectively as of January this year, with class sizes 25 per cent higher in the early years than the 40-per-year-group of the funding agreement and most other year groups also operating beyond capacity.

The DfE’s letter to Ms Begum stated: “We discussed the increase in pupil numbers at the trust’s primary schools and confirmed that RG have engaged with the trust to seek assurances that all classes are in classrooms that are of an adequate size for the number of pupils; that there are sufficient toilets for the number of pupils in the school; and that up to date fire safety certificates are in place for both schools in line with the overall occupancy figures of the buildings. The trust has provided documentation and assurance on all these matters.”

However, the issue of the schools operating beyond the capacity set out in their funding agreements appeared not to have been addressed.

The letter continued: “At the current time, the trust has not yet undertaken the significant change process to apply to change the capacity numbers in the Supplementary Funding Agreements (SFAs), to bring this in line with the numbers on roll at the primary schools, but we have provided advice on what is required to complete this process.

“The trust will need to consult with stakeholders and provide evidence that any changes are workable from both classroom capacity and an overall building infrastructure perspective. The new interim CEO will need to take this forward as a matter of urgency once they are in post and we will engage with them to conclude this matter as soon as possible.

“It is likely that the Pupil Admission Numbers (PAN) will also need to be amended for the schools’ September 2025 Reception intake to reduce these in line with the capacity of the Reception classrooms.”

CWC continues to be a case study in how the deregulation and fragmentation of the schools system via the academies and free schools policies can prove problematic on the ground. It continues to be one to watch.