Troubled Athena academy trust handed DfE Notice to Improve over its exclusion and suspension policies

Development comes after the nine-school chain’s behaviour management policies were the subject of two BBC documentaries over the summer.

An academy trust which was at the centre of a national debate over its behaviour management policies over the summer has been taken to task by the Department for Education over its exclusion and suspension rates, especially in relation to children with special needs.

The Athena Learning Trust, which is to be disbanded after many parents raised concerns about the detail of its behaviour policies, has been given a Notice to Improve by the DfE, which criticised what it said was “weak governance and oversight” by the board, in relation to exclusions and suspensions.

Among a host of actions now required of the nine-school academy chain, which operates in Cornwall and Devon, Athena has been told it must provide the DfE with “regular analysis of the trust’s work to reduce suspensions and permanent exclusions.”