Revealed: the schools which escaped academisation following “requires improvement” Ofsted judgements

Eight schools have had academy orders revoked by the government and been allowed to remain with their local authorities, having previously failed an inspection but then risen to be rated “requires improvement,” Education Uncovered has learnt.

The finding, based on data presented in a Parliamentary answer and through Ofsted, is significant because it underlines how schools facing forced academisation can escape such a fate – if ministers choose – based on inspection verdicts one up from “inadequate” on the inspectorate’s four-point scale.

It contradicts a statement by the local Conservative MP for the Barclay School, Stevenage – which is one of the highest-profile forced academisation cases at the moment – that previously-failing schools need to be rated “good” by Ofsted to have any chance of remaining with their local authorities.

The detail

Education Uncovered, which has looked at statistics on academy revocations before, this time analysed a Parliamentary written answer to Labour peer Lord Watson, who had asked a question on the subject last October.

Lord Watson asked which schools had had academy orders (AOs) revoked, and on what grounds.

In response, the academies minister Lord Agnew released a list of 29 schools which had had AOs revoked in recent years. In 22 cases, the reason given was “improved Ofsted inspection”.

Checking the inspection history of each of these schools against Ofsted’s database reveals that in only 14 cases was the inspection judgement -  for the first full inspection after the school failed -   a grade of “outstanding” (one school) or “good” (13 schools).

In eight cases, the gain in Ofsted terms was to a rating of “requires improvement”.

This contradicts statements made by Stephen McPartland, Stevenage’s Conservative MP, made in relation to the campaign to stop the Barclay School, the town’s first purpose-built comprehensive, from academising, which is scheduled to happen on February 1^st.

The Barclay failed an inspection in 2016 but received a “requires improvement” verdict from Ofsted following a return visit last year, in which inspectors praised the leadership of the team which have been running the school since it was originally rated “inadequate”.

McPartland, whose position on the school was repeatedly criticised at a public meeting earlier this month, told the local Comet newspaper that: “The only way to remove an academy order is for the school to get good in an Ofsted inspection, which they have sadly failed to do.”

The comment was repeated in an email McPartland sent to parent campaigner Peter Hawkins.

Looking at the list of schools which have had academy orders revoked because of an “improved Ofsted” (see below), it is true that only two institutions for which this is the case had originally been placed in special measures after April 2016.

That date is significant, since it marks the introduction of the Education and Adoption Act 2016, which beefed up the Secretary of State’s academisation powers, requiring him to issue academy orders starting the academisation process in all cases of schools which failed Ofsteds from this point on.

But this still leaves two schools: Bridlewood primary, in Swindon, Wiltshire; and Gateacre, in Liverpool, where the school failed an Ofsted post-April 2016 but the academy order has since been lifted following a “requires improvement” judgement.

Lord Agnew’s answer also highlighted Department for Education guidance on the subject, which shows that the Department for Education can choose whether or not it wants to lift academy orders: there are no hard-and-fast rules.

At the time of writing McPartland had not responded to a request for comment.

Table: the schools with academy orders revoked following “requires improvement” verdicts from Ofsted

School	Location	Reason AO lifted	Phase	Date of "failing inspection	Date of return inspection	Ofsted verdict
The Minster Junior School	Croydon	Improved Ofsted Inspection	Primary	26/06/2014	10/05/2016	RI
Kings Farm Primary School	Kent	Improved Ofsted Inspection	Primary	22/10/2014	18/05/2016	RI
All Saints Catholic High School	Knowsley	Improved Ofsted Inspection	Secondary	10/12/2014	28/06/2016	RI
Cranbourne Business and Enterprise College	Hampshire	Improved Ofsted Inspection	Secondary	02/12/2015	05/07/2017	RI
St Matthew's CofE Primary School	Oldham	Improved Ofsted Inspection	Primary	27/01/2016	28/06/2017	RI
Bridlewood Primary School	Swindon	Improved Ofsted Inspection	Primary	05/07/2017	17/01/2018	RI
Fyndoune Community College	Durham	Improved Ofsted Inspection	Secondary	17/09/2014	04/05/2016	RI
Gateacre School	Liverpool	Improved Ofsted Inspection	Secondary	18/05/2016	03/10/2017	RI

(Sources: the list of schools and “reasons” for the AO being revoked come from the DfE’s written answer; the Ofsted inspection information comes from the Ofsted/DfE database)