Reprieve from academy order announced

Campaigners earn ‘pause’ to forced academisation as Regional Director’s office confirms process will take stock of fresh Ofsted inspection

A “pause” to the academisation of King Edward VII School has been announced today (12 June).

In a message sent to parents and carers, Headteacher Linda Gooden revealed that the Regional Director of the Yorkshire and Humber, who acts on behalf of the education secretary to force maintained schools into multi-academy trusts when they are judged ‘inadequate’, would now be “paused”.

The pause follows a recent monitoring visit conducted by Ofsted on 23 May. This visit immediately led to a subsequent fully graded inspection, suggesting that improvement was evident in the ‘inadequate’ areas and the school is on a trajectory towards seeing that rating lifted.

The news comes hours after immediate changes to the Ofsted inspection system were announced. Under the new rules, and at the discretion of the education secretary, schools such as King Edward VII School who are deemed ‘inadequate’ for reasons of safeguarding can have their academy order revoked if a quick reinspection within three months of the original inspection demonstrates they have made the necessary improvements.

Key points from the meeting with the Deputy Regional Director last Friday outlined by Headteacher Linda Gooden:

• Explained that further sponsorship activities (i.e. comparative analysis of additional multi-academy trusts) had been paused.
• Noted that the Regional Director and her team will await the publication of the final report for the School, so they can understand the outcome and detail from the inspection, before considering the next steps in the process.
• Noted that the pausing of activity ‘will include not progressing the directive Academy Order
  issued to King Edward VII School on 12 December 2022, and therefore not taking any further decisions on potential sponsors until the publication of the official OFSTED report.’ The Regional Director and her team will continue to work closely with me, and a further conversation will take place, once the final report has been published.

Parents and carers, who have been campaigning to save the school from forced academisation, recently sent an open letter, signed by 200 parents, to the Regional Director asking for the process to be paused.