England’s biggest academy chain hits out at Ofsted after damning report
Representatives of the biggest academy chain in England, Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), expressed their disappointment at Ofsted’s inspection process after the inspectorate warned the Trust is “failing too many pupils”.
In response to Ofsted’s report, the AET said “the trust feels that the inspection process and the letter have fallen short of the Secretary of State’s recommendation on this occasion.”
“We have been a strong advocate of the policy to allow Ofsted to inspect multi- academy trusts, but are disappointed that the significant achievements of the Trust and our schools have not been sufficiently recognised in the letter published this morning. In January 2015, the Secretary of State wrote to Ofsted, urging inspectors to approach the inspection of MATs as a professional dialogue, which should ‘include consideration of achievement and other relevant data for all of the MAT’s academies.’ ”
You can read the whole AET statement here.
The Trust runs 67 academies across England, four of which are in Middlesbrough.
The Ofsted report notes that pupils from poorer backgrounds are at a particular disadvantage in schools sponsored by AET. It also states that of the schools in AET, the secondary schools are faring the worst with 47% of pupils attending academies that are less than good, compared with 40% at primary level.
This week yet another big academy chain was accused by Ofsted of not making sufficient progress. The E-Act trust runs 23 academies, and none in the North East.