Termination warning issued by Government after 'inadequate' Ofsted report for Derbyshire school

The Government handed the notice to LEAP Multi-Academy Trust over Eckington School, on Dronfield Road, after it was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted and placed in special measures.

Inspectors from the education watchdog stated in their report, published last month, that leaders had failed to ensure the school was ‘somewhere pupils feel safe from bullying or poor behaviour’, meaning ‘many pupils do not feel confident to be themselves in school’.

In a letter to Kim Bottomley, LEAP’s chair of trustees, Carol Gray, the Department for Education’s regional director for the East Midlands, acknowledged that the trust had engaged well with the department since the Ofsted inspection. Ms Gray said that the trust assessed that it had ‘limited capacity’ to address the concerns raised so had agreed to the school being transferred to a ‘stronger’ sponsor.

“Although you have come to this decision and have agreed to work with the department on a transfer, this Termination Warning Notice confirms that the academy remains subject to intervention powers and that I retain the power to terminate the funding agreement and transfer the academy to a new trust should it become necessary,” added Ms Gray. She continued: “Whilst the board has agreed to transfer the school to new leadership, the trust remains accountable for the outcomes of the school and its pupils until a new sponsor is identified and the transfer takes place.

LEAP’s CEO Wayne Barsby previously told the Derbyshie Times that since being visited by Ofsted inspectors in June the trust had introduced a new, interim leadership team, with support from Chorus Education Trust. He said at the time how together they were taking ‘immediate action’ to address the key concerns identified by Ofsted, with new interim co-heads having been appointed and already putting changes in place

Following the publication of the Termination Warning Notice, Mr Barsby said: “The matter of determining the sponsor trust for Eckington is with the DfE. Once a decision is made formally, due later this year, we will ensure that this is communicated onwards.”

The DfE said the regional director’s team would ‘identify a new strong trust, with a view to taking the case to our advisory board in November 2022’.