Ex-Ofsted head urges greater scrutiny of academy trusts
The high pay awarded to academy chief executives should mean their trusts are subjected to greater scrutiny, the former chief inspector of Ofsted has said.
Sir Michael Wilshaw, who was one of the best-known academy leaders before his Ofsted role, defended the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which returns to parliament this week.
He suggested that the legislation was coming under 'unreasonable' attack from those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
Wilshaw made his name as the tough-talking head teacher of Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney, east London, which was one of the first academies to open in 2004. It used its freedoms to drive up standards in an inner-city area.
He said that chief executives of academy trusts — some earning
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
'Inadequate' Halton children's services improving
Improvements have been made to a council's under-fire children's services department after being told it was failing but there remains "more to do", inspectors have Borough Council's children's services department was rated "inadequate" in all four areas of its inspection by Ofsted in May last was criticised for a lack of "stable and effective leadership" and "workforce instability", with a government inspector being sent in to help turn things around and a new department head was also has now published the results of a a two-day monitoring visit in April which found "strong political and corporate support" and "significant additional investment" was supporting progress towards improvement. In a letter to head of department Zoe Fearon published online, Ofsted said: "There is a refreshed recruitment strategy and more social workers have become permanent."Social workers have been provided with a wide range of training. The learning from training is supporting social workers to consolidate, refresh and develop their practice. This training is starting to impact positively on children's experiences." 'Increasing stability' However, the letter said that for some children, what it called "inconsistent management oversight" was not supporting timely decision continued: "There is more to do to ensure that children's individual needs inform the social work response. There is not a consistently effective response to children living in private fostering arrangements."In specific relation to fostering arrangements, the headline findings said for some children, there were "delays" in the initiation of private fostering assessments and the completion of full statutory checks, which "created uncertainty" about the safety and suitability of each fostering inspection took in a range of evidence, including electronic records, performance management information, case file audits and other information provided by senior managers and staff, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. Their report added: "Once arrangements are approved, not all children receive the appropriate levels of management oversight."This means that any emerging needs and risk may not be responded to in a timely and effective way. There is more to do to raise awareness of private fostering and embed more consistent practice."The council has relied on significant numbers of temp agency social workers in the past, which had also resulted in large overspends due to the increased the report said there had been increasing stability in the workforce as well as training which had led to more purposeful "direct work" with children and families. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Staff turnover fears despite improved Medway Council child service
A council's children services have been praised for improvements, but inspectorate Ofsted has warned staff turnover has "hindered progress".Medway Council has made changes since being rated "good" in 2023, the education watchdog said after a recent reinspection, but added that they still needed time to were raised that the positive steps made were on shaky ground because of ever-increasing demands for the service and the high turnover of staff and retention Price, Medway Council's portfolio holder for children's services, said the service had been on a "significant improvement journey in recent years". The visit, conducted in April, was to look specifically at the authority's performance in relation to children in need or the subject of a child protection plan, according to the Local Democracy Reporting inspectors said improvements had been made to the support given to children, particularly to 16 or 17 year olds at risk of homelessness, and there was a focus on developing the response to disabled children and teenagers at risk of of the service was also raised as an issue, with inspectors saying quality and impact of assessments, plans, interventions, management oversight and supervision could vary widely.A letter from the inspectorate to the council read: "Recent turnover of staff threatens to undermine the tenuous progress made."The stability and experience of the workforce continue to be the most significant and stubborn challenges and barriers to progress."Ofsted also recognised the leaders of the service understood the issues it was facing and the key areas for service was previously rated "inadequate" in Joy, shadow cabinet member for children's services, also welcomed the progress but said it remained "fragile given the continued challenges around permanence within the service".
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Solihull Council's children's services show improvement
Children in Solihull are receiving better and more timely support from social workers, an Ofsted visit has Council's children's services came under scrutiny after the murder of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes in 2020. An Ofsted inspection in 2022 deemed the service inadequate with widespread local authority has since improved in areas such as managing safeguarding referrals and staff workloads an Ofsted inspector said after the latest monitoring council has had six monitoring visits since its inadequate rating, with a visit last year concluding that services for young people who had been in care had also improved. Ofsted's letter to the council setting out its findings was published on Monday, following a visit that took place on 29 and 30 April. Rebecca Quested, one of the inspectors, said there had been considerable progress with managing referrals to the service's safeguarding hub since the 2022 also said new arrangements, such as specialised workers based at family hubs and a recently-launched helpline, were helping some families receive early leadership and lower workloads for social workers had boosted the service since 2022, so the response to children who need help and support was now timely and the council's support for young carers was one area that could still be improved, as assessments of such children often did not include information from other leaders had acknowledged a need for more co-ordination in this area and had a plan in place.A commissioner was appointed in 2022 to help the council step-mother was found guilty of murder and his father was found guilty of manslaughter in Council has been contacted for comment. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
