Free schools chain in public row with former teacher over use of its site for holiday club

A long-running row between the leadership of a multi-academy trust and members of its community has taken a bizarre new twist, with the managing director of a holiday club which had been operating at one of the trust’s schools telling parents it is having to move out.

The Camp Canary holiday club, which had been operating at East Ferry – one of three free schools operated by the Canary Whary College (CWC) chain in Tower Hamlets, East London – has been told it cannot do so this summer, even though its leader says its contract runs until next year.

The club’s managing director, Hannah Forster, who once taught at the school, revealed the development to parents in a strongly-worded letter which took aim at Canary Wharf’s leadership, which has generated multi-faceted controversy over the past 18 months since the arrival of the current chief executive.

Meanwhile, the National Education Union is awaiting the results of an independent investigation into trust management, and the detail on the CWC’s employment policies.

The detail

Ms Forster told Education Uncovered that difficulties with the trust had first started last summer, when she had been told “at a moment’s notice” by Joanne Taylor, who had taken over as CWC’s chief executive in January 2023, that the club would not be able to use the early years playground on the site. It had been operating there for several years previous to this.