Did teachers at one controversial Astrea academy have to miss lessons to be on site at an Ofsted inspection at another?

Astrea's use of external staff during inspections feeds into the multi-faceted current debate about Ofsted.

Were lessons at one of a controversial academy trust’s secondary schools compromised because teachers were sent to a neighbouring institution to be on site for its Ofsted inspection?

Education Uncovered has heard that teachers at Longsands Academy, in St Neots, Cambridgeshire left their normal lessons to be on site for the inspection last month of Ernulf Academy, a second school in the town which is also run by Astrea Academy Trust.

The claim, which comes after the trust admitted that 25 extra staff were drafted in from outside to be on site at Longsands for its own inspection last year, was put to Astrea, but there was no response. If true, it would be the latest in a seemingly endless series of twists involving the management of Cambridgeshire secondaries by the 26-school trust, which is based 100 miles away in Sheffield.

 

The detail

 

Astrea runs the only two secondaries in the town of St Neots. Last year, the larger of them, Longsands, received a “good” verdict from the inspectorate despite large numbers of parents having said they would not recommend the school to others, and despite Astrea having admitted that 25 extra staff were drafted in for the inspection from other schools and head office.  

Last month, Ofsted visited Ernulf Academy, Astrea’s smaller school in the town. The visit came nearly two years after Ernulf received a “requires improvement” verdict from the inspectorate.

I understand that Longsands teachers left their normal lessons for at least one of Ernulf’s inspection days to be at that school while Ofsted visited.

It is understood that this had contributed to double classes of pupils being taught in the school hall at Longsands during the days of Ernulf’s inspection, because of a shortage of staff.

There has been debate in recent months about whether it is right for multi-academy trusts to be able to deploy extra staff on site for Ofsted inspections, who would not normally be at the inspected schools.

Academy trusts sometimes argue that their ability to deploy staff flexibly is an advantage of the way they operate, though critics counter that inspectors are not seeing a school, in this case, in its “normal state”. But the notion that children from the school where staff usually work could be disadvantaged by such a move through losing their normal teacher for lessons, in order to improve another school’s chances of doing well in front of inspectors, would add another layer of controversy to this debate.

I put points to Astrea, but have not had a response. I also asked Ofsted if it would have a position on the matter if teachers were moved from one school to another and provision for pupils in the first school was affected, but have yet to have a response.

Meanwhile, Longsands itself was inspected last week.

This inspection was a surprise, as the 1,600-pupil secondary was only visited by Ofsted a year ago. Ofsted’s website states that, following a “good” verdict, inspectors “usually inspect…every 4 years or at any time if we have concerns”.

The one-day monitoring inspection for Longsands appeared to be no-notice, with its principal, Catherine Cusick, telling parents in an email that the school was only told at 8.30am on the day that it was to be inspected.

Tony Meneaugh, the principal of a third Astrea secondary in Cambridgeshire, St Ivo Academy, last year admitted in a weekly newsletter to parents that that school had also drafted in “additional staff” for its own inspection when it was visited by Ofsted last April.

Longsands was awarded its rating of “good” by Ofsted last year with no mention in the report of what has appeared a high rate of teacher turnover, and with nearly nine out of 10 parents who responded to the inspectorate’s official survey in 2023-24 stating that they would not recommend it to others.

Meanwhile, Education Uncovered has just checked Longsands’ Ofsted “Parent View” rating for this academic year. There are not that many responses – schools without Ofsted inspections known to be looming tend not to generate them – at only 65 for this large secondary. However, of those who had responded, 91 per cent said they would not recommend the school to others.

Ernulf’s current Ofsted “Parent View” responses are also not good. Of the 310 parents’ responses for this 733-pupil school, 55 per cent said they would not recommend it to others, against 45 per cent who said they would. It is rare for the former percentage to be larger than the latter, within Ofsted’s database for all schools*. And, while 55 per cent of Ernulf parents agreed with the statement that their child was happy at the school – 13 per cent very happy – 44 per cent disagreed, of which 25 per cent strongly disagreed.  

MPs to meet minister over sixth form numbers

 

Two Cambridgeshire MPs have set up a meeting with a government minister about the plummeting numbers of pupils in the sixth form at Longsands and St Ivo.

Ben Obese-Jecty, Conservative MP for St Ivo’s constituency of Huntingdon, and Ian Sollom, Liberal Democrat MP for Longsands’ St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire constituency, wrote last month to the schools minister Catherine McKinnell, asking for a meeting about what Mr Obese-Jecty described as a “precipitous decline” in numbers at the two sixth-forms.

As Education Uncovered reported in September, sixth form numbers at the two schools fell by a combined 40 per cent between January 2019, when Astrea took them over, and January 2024. As of September, unofficial data for 2024-25, collected by parents at both schools who have been concerned about their management under Astrea, had numbers falling dramatically again. In November, Mr Obese-Jecty reportedly said that only 38 students had entered St Ivo’s sixth form that term, compared to 109 the previous year and 145 in the year before Astrea took over.

Ms McKinnell initially responded to both MPs to say that “diary pressures” had meant that she was unable to meet them “at present”.

Ms McKinnell’s original response, dated January 30^th, had told the MPs: “I understand your concerns about the viability of these sixth forms.

“However, it is a matter for Astrea Academy Trust to address, and as is the case for all post-16 providers, they determine matters such as the curriculum…Departmental officials meet regularly with Astrea Academy Trust. In the last meeting, in November 2024, the Trust advised of high-level investment plans for their sixth form provision in Cambridgeshire. It will continue to be on the agenda in our engagement with the Trust. In the meantime, I would encourage you to maintain an open dialogue with the Trust’s leadership so that they can keep you appraised of the detail of their plans.”

However, Mr Sollom’s office then told the Hunts Post newspaper that Ms McKinnell had changed her position on the meeting, and that this “is being arranged for the start of spring”.

Advert for new "executive principal" 

 

Astrea has been advertising for an “executive principal” to oversee two unnamed secondaries in Cambridgeshire, on a salary of up to £141,029.

As Education Uncovered has reported in the past, the trust seems to have an extraordinary number of seemingly well-paid management layers above the post of principal.

The advert says: “The Executive Principal will line manage the Principals of two designated schools and work with their senior leadership teams, the Regional Director, Regional Operational Manager and Director of Secondary Education.”

The post's salary is advertised in the range £122,932-£141,029.

It seems as if there have been four management layers for the Cambridgeshire secondary schools above the post of principal: executive principal, regional director, director of secondary and chief executive.

Can this management structure really be afforded, within an academy trust which only has seven secondaries overall? Astrea’s latest accounts state that it has a “healthy balance sheet,” with reserves of £3.8m. So perhaps the answer to that question, strangely given the overall pressures on school budgets across the country, is “yes”.

However, I understand that parents at St Ivo were told last year that the salaries of school-based staff were too high. It would be interesting to understand how the trust addresses this with its school communities.

*Last year, on average only 16 per cent of parents across all schools across England said they would not recommend it to others.