Government will not pump extra cash into free school, set up at a cost of more than �12m, as it moves on to its third proprietor since 2019

Avanti Hall School, in Exeter

The government will not pump any more extra cash into a free school, as it moves on to be in the control of a third academy trust in just over three years, the Department for Education’s key decision-maker in the case has indicated.

Reach South, the 15-school chain based in Plymouth, will not gain any extra specific funding for taking on Avanti Hall School in Exeter in Devon if the move to transfer it from its current controllers the Avanti Schools Trust goes ahead in the coming months.

The revelation, in a response by the government’s Regional Director to the school’s Labour MP, Ben Bradshaw, who had asked questions about the situation on behalf of a constituent, may be surprising given the financial challenges the current trust has suggested in relation to Avanti Hall, which was losing pupils until this year.

It comes as Mr Bradshaw told the House of Commons this week that another chain, the Ted Wragg Multi Academy Trust, had wanted to take over Avanti Hall but had been rebuffed by the government – a statement which seems to conflict with the account given to Mr Bradshaw by the Department for Education.

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