Major academy trust reels as primary school rated inadequate –just as number of its �100k-plus employees doubles

One of England’s major academy trusts, which has been a go-to organisation for civil servants seeking to sort out other institutions’ problems, is reeling from an “inadequate” verdict for one of its primary schools.

Reach South, which runs 13 academies, saw High Street primary academy in the trust’s home city of Plymouth failed by Ofsted just three weeks after another of its primaries there was adjudged “requires improvement”.

Meanwhile, the trust’s newly-published accounts show the remuneration of Dean Ashton, its chief executive, unchanged on £155-£160,000 and that of the second-highest-paid employee jumping from £70-£80,000 to £100-£110,000. This is despite the government saying that £150k-plus salaries should only be paid in “exceptional” circumstances; writing to trusts with either one leader on £150k-plus or more than one on £100k-plus to ask for explanation; and stating that leaders’ remuneration should not rise by more than that of teachers.

The trust, however, has responded that the new £100,000-plus employee is a result of someone transferring from a school which had joined Reach South, with their existing pay and conditions having been retained. It said that “no member of senior staff received a pay rise aside from [a] cost-of-living increase and incremental increases under the national teachers’ pay and conditions document”.

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