Department for Education Regional Director ignores complaint from group representing hundreds of parents about academy trust’s policies

A senior government official has ignored a complaint by a group representing hundreds of parents at a large comprehensive which had asked him to investigate an academy trust whose policies, the group said, were having a detrimental impact on their children’s mental health.

The St Ivo Parents Forum said they were staggered and deeply disappointed that Jonathan Duff, responsible for overseeing academies across the East of England, had not offered any response to a detailed complaint about the management of St Ivo Academy in Cambridgeshire by Astrea Academy Trust.

The development, says the group, underlines how the academies policy lacks accountability to parents, since they have also complained to the trust itself, without success. The trust told Education Uncovered in response that it was “working hard to engage all parents at St Ivo, rather than giving preferential treatment to any select grouping of parents.”

However, as if to underline the lack of responsiveness of the government, the Department for Education did not respond to this website’s request for comment.

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