‘They are taking us for a ride’: Parents take vote of no confidence in school academy trust

Scathing accounts were given by parents, teachers and a local councillor over the running of Ash Grove Primary Academy, in South Elmsall.

More than 50 people who attended a public meeting also voted to bring a joint grievance against Inspire Multi Academy Trust.

Parents Rachel Parry and Naomi Horne arranged the meeting, which was held at the town’s United Services Club.

Ms Parry told the meeting she had removed her son, who has special educational needs, from the school due to the lack of an appropriate education, health and care plan (EHCP).

She said: “This started with a complaint to Ofsted.

“I was ringing up every day. He was getting sent home, he wasn’t learning.

“I have had a safeguarding issue which have been constantly swept away. We are getting nowhere.

“I have had 30-plus messages from parents saying there is no support, no funding.

“I took my son out of school. It has been four weeks and I have absolutely no intention of sending him back while they are in charge. There is absolutely no way.”

“Staff are dropping like flies. Across the school, there is just no support for anybody.”

Another parent told the meeting. “There are no special educational needs teachers in the school at the minute. So who is looking after our kids?

“Who is actually qualified to look after our children with special educational needs, because there is nobody there to make sure they are looked after.

“Why are people leaving? There have been many, many people that have gone suddenly.

“There are no teachers, there are no TAs (teaching assistants).”

Inspire was established in 2016 and has nine primary academies across the Wakefield local authority area.

One of the teachers who attended the meeting said: “I work across the trust. A lot of schools have the exact same issues.

“I have had four headteachers while I have worked there. It’s disgusting.

“They don’t think any of you in the community are going to be able to stand up to them.

“They think the same about the staff.

“We are not going to be silent. We need to get together and get the school back to where it was.”

A spokesperson for Inspire Partnership Multi-Academy Trust said: “Ash Grove Primary joined our trust almost five years ago when it was rated Inadequate by Ofsted and after it had had five headteachers in two years.

"We stabilised the school and have done a huge amount of work to improve it since 2018, as we await its first Ofsted inspection since the school joined us. The school is in good hands.

“Reading, writing and maths scores have all improved since the school joined us, the curriculum has been developed, teaching has improved, attendance is up this year compared to last, and behaviour is significantly better.

"There is a very positive teacher-to-pupil ratio and we want to be absolutely clear that children at Ash Grove are safe. Indeed, our safeguarding policies were monitored and commended when they were last checked. In our last parent survey, 85% of parents said their child was happy at Ash Grove, 95% said their child felt safe and 80% said the school ensures pupils are well-behaved.

“Both our chief executive and deputy chief executive are leading the school during the absence of the head, Miss Williams, supporting the senior leadership with the day-to-day running of the school.

"Our Trust is committed to providing the very best teaching, learning, support and development that every child deserves, and we are working hard every day to provide that.”

David Bullock, of Wakefield NASUWT teaching union, said: “We have had, as a union, a number of members raise issues about the trust and about the support that teaching staff are getting from management at the school.

“I think everyone who has spoken today is aware that the issues are due to the trust, rather than the members of staff that are working.

“I have no doubt that every member of staff that I have represented has done the best for your child but they are hamstrung by the situation that they are put in.”

Steve Tulley, councillor for South Elmsall and South Kirkby, said: “The concerns aren’t about the staff that are operating at the coalface.

“This is about the trust, it’s about the senior management, it’s about the senior leadership.”

“We need to get this message out because we have major concerns about what is going on in our school and our part of the world.

“We’ve probably had ten headteachers in ten years, haven’t we?

“The issue isn’t with people who are trying to plait fog and make it work there.

“It’s the actual organisation they work for.”

Coun Tulley said he would be contacting education chiefs at Wakefield Council and Hemsworth MP Jon Trickett to raise parents’ concerns.

He added: “We would not be having these issues if these schools were still under local education authority control and accountable to somebody. But they are not.

“They are actually accountable to nobody.

“They are accountable to a bunch of people who set themselves up as trusts.

“It’s quite clear, from what I can see, that the trust is taking us for a ride.

“There is an obligation to deal with children’s needs and it is not being carried out.

“The trust are a law unto themselves. They investigate themselves. So we have got to take it elsewhere.

“It’s going to be a slog. But it’s going to be a fight worth having if we are going to get good staff back in this school.

“We need to be going to the trust, to Wakefield education, to the secretary of state for education, to our MP.”

“It used to be a good school, but we are not going to get it back to that while ever Inspire Trust is running the show.

“We cannot physically remove them, but we can do enough writing and complaining to make that work.”

The trust said in a statement: “The CEO and deputy CEO of the Inspire Multi-Academy Trust are supporting the senior leadership with the day-to-day running of Ash Grove Primary Academy, in the absence of the headteacher.

“Staffing levels are in line with recommendations.

“We would like to reiterate that children at Ash Grove are safe, and the school is in good hands.

“Our safeguarding policies were monitored and commended in the summer of 2022.

“Recent parent questionnaires show that the overwhelming majority of the parents feel their children are safe and happy at the school.

“This Trust believes in providing the very best teaching, learning, support and development that every child deserves and recent external monitoring evidences that this is in place at Ash Grove.”

Ash Grove was given an inadequate rating at its last Ofsted inspection in 2018.

Inspectors found that a series of “short-term interim headteacher arrangements” undermined the school’s effectiveness and damaged staff morale.

The report states: “Everyone, including parents and carers, governors and the local authority agree that standards of teaching and pupils’ outcomes in the school have declined.

“The quality of teaching is inadequate. Teaching is typified by low expectations and lack of challenge because assessment practice is weak.

“At times, this can have a negative effect on some pupils’ behaviour and pride in their work.”

Andrew Lancashire, service director for education and inclusion at Wakefield Council, said: “We are very concerned by the issues that we understand were raised at the meeting yesterday.

“Unfortunately, Wakefield Council has no involvement in the leadership or management of the school or trust.

“It is directly overseen by, and accountable to, the Department for Education (DfE) and the Education and Schools Finance Agency.

“However, the education and safeguarding of every child in this district is of paramount importance to the council, and we have requested an urgent meeting with the DfE and the CEO of the Trust.”