Multi-academy trust sacks most of primary school’s board after governors challenge its decision-making

A multi-academy trust reacted to a governing body challenging it on a succession of decisions by sacking all governors it was legally able to get rid of, Education Uncovered has learnt.

Governors at St Philip’s Church of England primary school in Bath were dismissed last month after substantive disagreements on three significant policies, including its distinctive former approach of allowing some children to be home-schooled on a Friday.

Parents have been given few details of the nature of the clash between governors and the Palladian Academy Trust, which runs the school and 10 others in and around Bath. The departures have unsettled a school which is also now facing the loss of its headteacher of 18 years, Andrew Joy., who is leaving over the summer.

The details

St Philip’s is a small primary – it had 275 pupils at the time of the last-published DfE census last January – which has been part of the Palladian trust since 2016.

But the past 12 months in particular have seen clashes between the governing body – technically a “local governance committee” – and the trust, whose chief executive is Donna Tandy, a former headteacher who took on her current post in 2021.