Headteacher joins union picket line in dispute involving multi-academy trust for whom she works

Head calls for more transparency over budgets of schools within Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust, in dispute which puts spotlight on local vs centralised control of schools.

 

A headteacher joined a union picket line in a dispute with her own employer yesterday, and voiced dissatisfaction with a “lack of transparency with the school budget” as overseen by her multi-academy trust, according to a local news report.

Dee Patton-Statham, head of St George’s Catholic Primary School in York, joined striking teachers, parents and staff as the National Education Union staged strikes at this school and a secondary which are both run by the Middlesbrough-based Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust (NPCAT).

The NEU is in dispute with the 35-school chain over financial management, with the union calling for schools in York to be run by a trust based in the town, a maximum “top-slice” of four per cent, an end to the practice of “gag-pooling” – whereby school budgets are put into one big pot controlled by the trust – and for restraint over the chief executive’s pay.

A call for greater local control of budgeting, then, seemed to be at the heart of the controversy in this case.

The York Press reported that more than 100 teachers and support staff went on strike yesterday at All Saints Roman Catholic secondary school, and at St George’s, with the latter being closed all day as a result and All Saints open only to year 11 and year 13 students.

Speaking from the picket line, Ms Patton-Statham told the York Press: “We have been trying to work with the trust for over a year and the strike is all about a lack of transparency with the school budget and a refusal to answer our questions.

“It didn’t need to come to this, but it’s important that people have a voice that they haven’t had in the trust.

“The trust have had plenty of opportunity to work with us and talk to us. I know from the union reps that the new trust board [there was a clear-out of directors recently; see below] are open to negotiation as well and that’s really important and the NEU members really appreciate that.”

Speaking last week, ahead of a public meeting about the trust, Michael Kearney, NEU secretary for the city of York, told the local Gazette and Herald newspaper that “chief among the issues is the trust refusing to make their finances more transparent and accountable to York schools”. 

He said: “Huge amounts of money are still being taken from York schools for services which we deem to be inadequate or more expensive than local options, the York community cannot have its voice heard, and CEO pay has increased to a whopping minimum of £245,000.”

The union describes this as an increase of 75 per cent over four years for NPCAT’s chief executive, Hugh Hegarty. Latest published accounts put his salary as of last academic year at £215-£220,000, which itself had been an increase of 64 per cent over the previous five years, rising from £130-£135,000 in 2018-19.

Mr Kearney added: "Unfortunately, the academy directors refuse to budge and are steadfastly backing this unacceptable CEO pay rise which means less money for York children.

“We believe a small York-based MAT with the local community at its heart would bring significant benefits to our schools, children and community.

“This is not an impossible task and we urge the bishop to take immediate steps to bring York schools back to York for the benefit of York children.”

A NEU flyer for last week’s meeting, seen by Education Uncovered, says the union is also seeking “jurisdiction of school budget to be returned to the headteachers;” for Mr Hegarty’s pay to be “re-benchmarked” against that of other school leaders; and for schools’ local governing bodies to be “reinserted into [the] scheme of delegation…so that the local community can have oversight of and hold the academy to account”.

In the Gazette and Herald article, the trust was reported as describing recent changes to its board as a “restructuring”. This might not fully capture what had happened, however: from information in NPCAT’s accounts and on Companies House, all six trustees, including the former chair, who had been serving on the board a year ago, were replaced during February. In addition, two trustees who had only been appointed last September also stepped down in February.

York’s academy set-up featured in a letter published in the Guardian two weeks ago, as the Labour councillor and former academy governor and critic, Jonny Crawshaw, lamented a general “explosion in chief executive pay” and made the point that the city now saw schools controlled by six multi-academy trusts whose leaders’ salaries started at £130,000, and each of which had extensive additional management positions. 

Last year, a headteacher in Cambridgeshire, Mark Patterson at Hinchingbrooke School, resigned having reportedly told parents in a letter that he had “significant concerns” about the “high amount” the trust running his school was top-slicing from school budgets. 

The Gazette and Herald last week quoted an NCPAT spokesperson saying: “The Bishop of Middlesbrough, the Rt Rev Terence Patrick Drainey, has recently restructured the NPCAT board, appointing new directors and a new chair, Karen Siedle…

“The new board is aware of the latest representations that have been made via the union and we look forward to continuing negotiations in the hope of finding a satisfactory outcome.”

Further strike days are planned at the two York schools on June 24th and 25th, with an additional strike day at St George’s also planned for May 13th.

Education Uncovered will be following this case closely.