New inquiry under way at Silver Birch academy trust as parents call for its ousting

A “major audit firm” has been brought in to carry out the third investigation in recent years into the management of a north-east London academy chain, Education Uncovered can reveal.

A letter sent to parents by trustees at the Silver Birch Academy Trust states that the unnamed company will be carrying out a “comprehensive, independent investigation” into the trust’s “management and its financial conduct” and “the decisions, actions and events that led the trust to its current position”.

The letter was sent with more than 1,000 people having supported a petition to try to get the Regional Schools Commissioner, Sue Baldwin, to remove Silver Birch from running one of the schools: Longshaw primary in Chingford.

I co-wrote a story for the Observer in May which revealed how Silver Birch was on the end of adverse findings from a government inquiry for the second time in four years.

The story reported that the 2017-18 investigation had included findings that the trust, which runs four primary schools, had spent more than £1,000 on hotel rooms for two nights and almost £10,000 on Facebook adverts for a free school which has yet to open, plus £6,117 on an overseas fact-finding trip for its two most senior figures.