Academies Enterprise Trust

History

AET has been reported as "dogged by criticism since it was set up. It was formally established in 2008 by the Greensward Charitable Trust, (established in 1996 to support Greensward School). The first school in the trust was Greensward Academy, at Hockley, Essex. The Trust began growing in 2008 with 3 schools. At its largest the chain numbered 76 schools. By 2015 AET had contracted to 68 schools. However it remained the largest Academy chain in England at that time.

The first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AET was David Triggs, who was in post from 2008 until September 2013. The second CEO was Ian Comfort, who had been Group Secretary and General Counsel since 2009.

Between 2011 and 2012 AET more than doubled in size, leading to criticism that the Academy chain was growing too fast and was therefore unable to ensure appropriate standards in its schools.

Academic standards

In February 2014 AET was accused of being a "dodgy outfit" for "gaming the exam results."

OFSTED criticised standards across AET in reports in both 2014 and 2015 as well as criticising standards in a number of individual schools (see below). In 2014, half the schools in AET were reported as failing as OFSTED criticised 'low expectations,' pupils with unacceptable behaviour, AET systems which made schools feel that they were 'left to flounder' and a lack of confidence in AET by its headteachers. AET responded in 2014 to OFSTED's concerns about its standards being too low by saying that OFSTED had an unfairly negative slant against AET in their report and that actually 'exam results in AET schools were improving faster than average.'

In 2015 OFSTED once again criticised AET schools as 'mediocre,' noting that almost half of students at AET secondary schools were in schools that were “less than good” and that poorer students were doing “particularly badly.” Speaking on behalf of OFSTED Andrew Cook said

Only 41 per cent of AET secondary academies are good or better and the trust’s impact on raising standards at key stage 4 has not been effective...with 69 per cent of good or better primary academies, AET was still well below the national average.

Commenting on OFSTED's concerns, the Department for Education said that AET was 'letting down too many pupils' and promised further action against AET if standards did not improve.

In response, AET once again criticsed OFSTED, saying that the Ofsted judgements were unfairly negative and that many of its schools had a history of poor performance and would require time to turn round. Ian Comfort the CEO also directly queried the professionalism of OFSTED by claiming that OFSTED had unfairly turned the 'generally positive oral feedback' given at the time of inspections, into 'far more negative statements' in the final OFSTED letter which criticised standards at AET. In comments to the Parliamentary Select Committee Ian Comfort also queried the appropriateness of having both OFSTED and the DfE involved in inspecting school standards as it put 'unnecessary pressure' on AET schools. In contrast to Ian Comfort other CEO's of Multi Academy Trusts, such as Dame Rachel de Souza have publicly stated that they are very happy with how the DfE and OFSTED work together to hold schools accountable.

The table of secondary schools below, and links to individuals schools, shows that OFSTED concerns about standards across the chain as a whole were also mirrored in concerns about individual academies and parliamentarians such as Lord Watson of Invergowrie have queried publicly the number of AET academies with individual warning notices stating the need to improve standards urgently. When schools have been removed from AET and given to other Academy chains, exam results have been seen to improve. For example at East Point Academy results rose from 32% 5 GCSE A-C (including English and Maths) which was the nadir of a 3 year set of declining results. Upon being taken over by a new Academy Trust, exam results immediately rose to 36%.

In 2015 Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of OFSTED wrote to the Secretary of State in England complaining about standards in the largest multi-academy trusts, including AET. He said: Despite having operated for a number of years, many of the trusts manifested the same weaknesses as the worst performing local authorities and offered the same excuses. Indeed, one chief executive blamed parents for pupils’ poor attendance affecting pupils’ performance..., a comment which Sir Michael made in the light of AET's own comments on attendance.

These generic criticisms by OFSTED of AET standards are also echoed in local areas by people concerned about the standards in individual AET academies. For example commenting on Richmond Park academy, councillor Paul Hodgins stated that enough was enough with AET and that the school should be given back to the local Authority. He noted that the 2016 OFSTED report on AET "highlights low attendance across AET’s academies, a failure to tackle weak leadership and how changes to the trust’s working practices had not sufficiently improved its performance." He said: “These depressing reports, along with the significant financial hole that AET has allowed Richmond Park Academy to get into, reflect our own experience with AET and just reinforce our firm view that RPA must come out from under them." He continued by appealing personally to the head of AET: "I again call on AET’s chief executive Ian Comfort to put our students first, and stop simply trying to preserve AET and his own position."

Even individual headteachers have raised concerns about AET standards. Jules White, headteacher at Tanbridge House School said'Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) have been severely criticised by Ofsted and, in the case of AET, even the Department itself stated that: “Too many children are not achieving well enough and the impact of these changes must lead to better results in 2016 and beyond.” '

AET's own response to the concerns of OFSTED and others is to claim that criticisms of it are misguided and that it has doubled the number of its schools that are good. It stated that "Mr Comfort had headed “significant improvements” since taking the role in 2013"

In its submission to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Multi Academy Trusts, AET even went so far as to say that it would prefer a "peer review" model of monitoring, thus eradicating the need for OFSTED inspections of its academies.

Despite AET's claims of improvements and criticisms of OFSTED, and despite AET's public claims that "Our objective is for every one of our academies to become outstanding as soon as possible, and we are making real progress in this direction.” an independent study of academic standards carried out by the Financial Times found that AET as an Academy chain had a negative value added score of -2.17. This indicates that (on average) pupils in the Academy chain were doing less well than other pupils in comparable non AET schools and so claims to be making 'real progress towards every academy being outstanding' are extremely implausible. In 2016 The DfE published comparative data looking at how the different Multi Academy Trusts were performing. AET was identified as being amongst the lowest performing with outcomes for secondary pupils that were 'significantly below average'

Controversies over expansion

When AET was criticised for expanding too fast and not ensuring high enough academic standards, there was controversy over whether AET was 'barred' or 'banned' from expanding; or whether AET itself had chosen not to expand. Mike Barnett, on behalf of AET said that

the trust had agreed with the DfE that following a period of rapid expansion, it would “pause and consolidate our operations”... We currently have 68 schools and will expect this number to grow with DfE approval to 80 by the end of the school year. We have not been ‘barred’ from expanding.

Despite this insistent AET claim that 'we have not been barred from expanding' the number of AET schools then fell to 68 and a report for the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education explicitly contradicted AET's claim, stating that AET "has been barred from taking on more schools because of concerns that its rapid expansion was adversely affecting standards." Education Minister Edward Timpson said that "At 27 February 2014, 14 sponsors were restricted in full from sponsoring new academies or free schools out of a total of over 350 approved sponsors that currently support academies.” Responding to queries about bans which prevent Multi-Academy Trusts expanding, a spokesman for the Department for Education said

When we do have concerns about the performance of academy sponsors, we act quickly – we stop them from taking on new projects, so that they focus on their existing schools, and ensure pupils there get a good education. When they have demonstrated this, they are able to take on new academies.

At the same time, the then shadow Education minister Steve McCabe MP commented "...If they are not good enough to take on any new schools why are they good enough to run existing schools...?"

Financial management and controversies

AET income fell considerably between 2013 and 2014.

The 40% drop in funding between 2013 and 2014 was reported as due to the fact that AET received large transfers of extra funding from Local Authorities to help it take on Academies which needed improvements. Following the worsening financial situation and a range of additional concerns about AET's finances, AET was given a Financial Notice to improve on 23 October 2014. The Notice to Improve letter stated

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has decided to issue a Financial Notice to Improve (the ‘Notice’) as a consequence of concerns about the financial management and governance of the Trust including the oversight of financial management by the Accounting Officer and the Directors...we have significant concerns about the volatility shown in the series of financial projections provided to us and the ability of the trust to forecast and therefore, critically, to secure finances across the group

At that time that the Educational Funding Agency (EFA) queried AET's competence with financial planning, it had only used its powers to issue a Financial Warning on 8 occasions. In a later submission to a Parliamentary Select Committee, Ian Comfort, the CEO of AET queried the ability of the Education Funding Agency to continue working as it does, unless something changed. The DfE (and Dame Rachel de Souza, CEO of the Inspiration Trust) robustly rejected his criticisms saying that the EFA systems were efficient and suitable.

As of 17 December 2015, 27 Financial Notices to Improve have been served upon Multi Academy Trusts, only 16 of which were still open as 11 of the organisations initially queried had improved and had their Notice to Improve removed. In its 2014 Annual Report, AET stated that the trust expected the EFA Notice to Improve to be lifted by March 2015. However the Financial Warning Notice remained in place in Autumn 2015. In the September 2015 AET Board meeting, the CEO Ian Comfort was cited explaining the situation by saying that he had not even been aware of the crucial deadline for reporting to the Education Funding Agency, and that was why the paperwork was not submitted that would have enabled the Financial Notice to Improve, to be lifted. Be that as it may, the Notice to Improve, was still in place requiring AET to improve, a full year later at the end of August 2016.

In terms of the difficulties AET has in managing its finances, it has identified PFI contracts as a key issue which make it difficult to manage its finances (even though other Academy chains which also have PFI contracts have not been given Financial Notices to Improve).

Financial concerns have been raised in the media about the fact that AET paid almost £500,000 to private businesses owned by its trustees and executives. Ian Comfort, who as CEO was reported as earning £220,000 per annum, was cited by the media for receiving £329,000 in addition to his salary for "project management services". Commenting on these 'related party payments' Russell Hobby, the General Secretary of the NAHT said: "it is time for them to stop... It risks eroding the high trust in which the teaching profession is held because it shields decisions and payments from proper scrutiny."

AET salaries have also been a matter of controversy. In 2013 the press reported that the number of staff paid six figure salaries in AET had risen almost five fold in a two year period. Despite overall numbers of staffing dropping in 2014, the numbers of staff paid at the highest levels went up. So in 2013 there were 22 staff recorded with salaries between £100,000 and £229,000. In 2014 there were 26 staff paid in the same range. Jon Richards, the Education officer of the union UNISON said “The explosion in senior pay across many academy trusts over the past few years is completely disproportionate... In the same period, school support staff have endured year upon year of pay freezes and real-term pay cuts.” In a review of CEO pay in 2015 it was also noted publicly that Ian Comfort, the CEO of AET is responsible for 67 schools and was paid £220,000. However the CEO of Plymouth Cast Multi Academy Trust was paid £53,000 and is responsible for 35 schools. In terms of responsibilities for schools comparing these chains, Ian Comfort is therefore paid four times as much, for being responsible for less than twice as many schools. By 2016 it was noted that Ian Comfort was earning £225,000, which represents a 2% increase on the £220,000 reported as salary in the previous year. At the same time, classroom teachers were limited to pay rises of just 1%.

AET is essentially a group of schools. However at its largest in 2014 AET was employing 6149 staff, of which less than half (only 2784) were actually teachers. This has led to incredulity and serious questions about its funding priorities, especially given the OFSTED criticisms of its standards. Further concerns have been raised about spending priorities with criticisms of what has been reported as AET's culture of "lavish expense claims."

Following reports of financial problems, in 2014 AET announced a plan for a "Joint Venture" with a commercial partner (reported as Price Waterhouse Cooper) which would have seen up to £400m of support services outsourced. The plan was controversially labelled by its critics as a "plot...to turn 80 schools into money-spinning businesses at the cost of hundreds of jobs." However AET itself described it as simply a way of bringing outside expertise in to the organisation in order to improve its services to schools. Peter Lauener, the head of the Education Funding Agency, told MPs that he put a stop to the Joint Venture. Although unable to go ahead in 2014 with the full Joint Venture, in 2015 AET put out to tender aspects of the central services which would have fallen within scope of the Joint Venture.

Commenting on plans for the original Joint Venture, Averil Chambers, from the GMB Union, memorably stated

Given that AET has a history of financial irregularities I wouldn’t trust them to look after my cat, let alone millions of pounds of public money

OFSTED has also publicly criticised the £225,000 figure paid to the head of AET as an example of what it calls 'poor use of public money' as well as questioning the way that Trusts such as AET spend so much money on 'expensive consultants or advisers to compensate for deficits in leadership.

Secondary schools

The following table is a list of AET secondary schools including current and former secondary schools, accurate to data available in November 2015. The table includes an indication of exam results, OFSTED grade and any letters from the Department for Education expressing concerns about standards. There is a footnote in each case, so that the individual accuracy of each piece of data can be verified. In 2016 the reporting of school data changed in the DfE performance tables. 2011-2015 the percentage given was only the percentage of pupils gaining a C and above in English and Maths. From 2016 it is the percentage of pupils gaining C and above in only a Maths and English GCSE grade, therefore the figures are higher. Nationally the results have resulted in a 6.6% rise in data and this should be taken into account when comparing the two figures.

Cells coloured red represent 5 GCSE A-C (including English and Maths for 2011-2015) results which are below the minimum standards expected by the Government floor target, OFSTED grades which indicate standards need to be improved or Department for Education letters stating that standards are 'unacceptably low.' Cells in darker grey indicate schools which have left AET or data which arose for periods of time before or after the schools were part of AET. The table also includes academies which belong to AET's subsidiary companies, such as London Academies Enterprise Trust (LAET)

Governance and trustees

Queries about AET's commitment to Diversity have been raised concerning a number of incidents. For example a review of diversity and equal opportunities amongst Academy chains found that AET's board listed 8 trustees in Spring 2016, all of whom were white and male. When challenged about how this fitted with the trusts claims to promote diversity, AET accepted that improvement was needed and stated “We are taking steps to increase the diversity of our board of trustees. We hope to make an announcement about new appointments in the near future." Furthermore the AET appointment of CEO Ian Comfort took place without the advertisement or appointment process recommended in AET's own Equal Opportunities policy for staff appointments A further issue which aroused considerable opposition was the closing of Western Primary school as it seemed to fly in the face of parents religious sensibilities, compelling some students to attend a faith school, against the wishes of their parents. The National Secular Society raised serious concerns about AET's approach to the sensitive issues. (Western Primary school joined AET as a 'good' school but then became "inadequate" when it was inspected by OFSTED after 2 years as an AET school, in January 2015. AET faced fierce criticism from locals who wrote a 1500 handwritten and 600 electronic strong petition AET was asked to reconsider closure, accused of manipulating predicted intake figures to the DfE, accused of giving out misleading press releases and of making major decisions inquorate")

Irregularities surrounding the appointment of the CEO are particularly evident in the confusion shown by AET's own board about if or when the CEO was actually appointed to the permanent post as CEO. When David Triggs resigned as CEO in Sept of 2013, Ian Comfort took over as interim CEO. Five months later, on the 27th Feb 2014 Ian Foster, the chair of the AET board wrote to all staff announcing that the CEO was being made permanent. He stated "It is with great pleasure that I am able to advise you that at its meeting on Tuesday 25th February, the AET board confirmed the appointment of Ian Comfort as permanent Group Chief Executive Officer, following several months as interim CEO" However two months later in April 2014 AET's own website was updated to record the CEO as 'interim' AET board minutes show that even a year later in July 2015 they believe that they need to search for a CEO.

Further confusion surrounded the actions of the AET board when it misadvertised the status of its own chair of trustees. In October 2015, upon the resignation of Rupert Gather, Jude Chin was appointed to the board, but mistakenly announced as permanent chair of trustees when AET later reported that his post should have read 'interim.'

In December 2015, the Times Education Supplement noted that the DfE had intervened with AET and now had its own representatives attending AET board meetings. It stated that "It has emerged that the situation at the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), which runs 68 schools throughout the country, has become so serious that representatives from the Department for Education now sit in on the trust’s board meetings. The government has said that it makes such a move if it has “concerns” about an academy chain."

Due to its rapid growth from just a few academies to a large chain, AET was criticised for having "no coherent operating model"

In early 2014, the Secretary of State for Education -Michael Gove appointed David Hoare as unpaid trouble shooter after criticism of “lavish expenses” and poor performance at the chain following its rapid expansion in 2011-2012. Hoare was subsequently appointed chair of Ofsted in July 2014 following objections to another candidate Tory donor David Ross