Former chair of governors sought to challenge positive report on school by consultant, email shows

Norfolk, where goings-on are continuing to keep Education Uncovered busy

The former chair of governors of an infant school in Norfolk sought to challenge an external report, commissioned before she took on the role, which had portrayed it as successful, an email seen by Education Uncovered discloses.

The move by Karen Gardner, the former chair of Nightingale infant and nursery school near Norwich who went on to chair a local academy trust, Ad Meliora, seems to throw into sharp relief how fraught the relationship between governing body and management can sometimes be.

As Education Uncovered revealed in February, Gardner was also chair of governors of another school which failed an Ofsted report back in 2016, Blenheim Park. This then went on to join the Ad Meliora academy chain.

And, as revealed in a comment underneath that story, Gardner was also chair of governors at another Norfolk school, Wensum junior, in Norwich when in 2014 it slid into special measures. Gardner currently chairs the Ofsted-good rated St William’s primary school, also in Norwich.