An article by Greg Hurst in yesterday’s The Times newspaper revealed that Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), the sponsor who run Ryde Academy and Sandown Bay Academy, have been ‘barred’ by the Government from taking over any more schools.
It was revealed that the academy sponsor have been instructed by the Department for Education (DfE) to concentrate on raising results in their existing 66 schools.
AET are described by the paper as the ‘biggest player in the field’ of academy sponsorship and although only formed three years ago, took on a whopping 42 new schools last year alone.
At least 18 failing schools
The report states that 18 of its schools are failing with 30 in need of improvement and only two rated as outstanding.
As readers will know Sandown Bay Academy was recently placed into Special Measures following an Ofsted inspection in January.
Ryde Academy has yet to receive an Ofsted inspection since the school became an Academy as part of the school reorganisation from three tiers to two tiers.
“Believe you can …”
Quote of the week on the Academies Enterprise Trust Website is “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt.
Update: 4th June 2013
Mike Barnett, Publicity Consultant for AET told OnTheWight,
The headline and story in The Times in March 2013 that we have been ‘banned’ from taking on more academies is untrue. We are the largest multi-sponsor in England and we currently have 70 academies. Because of the rate of expansion we agreed with the DfE last summer that after taking on a number of applications ‘in the pipeline’ that we would ‘pause and consolidate’ our network. The number is expected to be 74 in July and is expected to grow to 80 in September. The latest one to join us was a Swindon primary from 1 June.
