THREE schools have pulled out of a move to become sponsored academies after concerns were raised about the plans of the group behind it. The Warriner Secondary School in Bloxham, Hornton Primary School and Sibford Gower Endowed Primary School had planned to become sponsored by the BAU Foundation through the Mentora Academies Trust.

They received permission to apply for sponsored academy status by the Department for Education (DfE) in September.

But this week governors at the schools announced the proposal was no longer going ahead.

Two of the seven directors on the board of BAU Foundation – former DfE permanent secretary Lord Bichard and Dame Anna Hassan – are no longer registered with the firm on Companies House.

A national newspaper reported that they had stepped down.

Headteacher of Warriner School Dr Annabel Kay, who was on the board of BAU and also Mentora, yesterday confirmed she had resigned from her position on both boards.

Governors said her role on the boards was to make sure that the schools were represented from the earliest opportunity – she headed up the three schools’ steering group.

Both the foundation and trust are based in Bristol and were registered as companies in August.

They have links to Turkey and the Bahcesehir University in Istanbul.

Dr Kay said yesterday: “It was more of a growing concern of the intentions of some of the group.

“We were originally approached by the DfE in March and it sounded potentially exciting, especially as Lord Bichard and Dame Hassan were involved. I had a growing sense about my concerns.

“I didn’t want to hand over my school, my special school, to someone who doesn’t share its vision and respect it.”

She said she also felt comments made by chairman and founder of BAU about the Government giving it large amounts of money for the three schools were unhelpful.

Dr Kay met governors on December 4 to raise concerns and a decision was made to withdraw from the plans.

Oxfordshire NUT secretary Gawain Little said: “This is a shocking story and will raise serious concerns with parents in Oxfordshire and beyond.

“We applaud the decision by the schools to withdraw in the interests of their students but believe serious questions have been raised about the integrity of the DfE.”

Dr Kay said the school was still exploring conversion to an academy through a Multi Academy Trust, but would not be making any imminent plans.

A Whitehall source said: “Michael Gove is very keen to make sure all applicants are vetted extensively, irrespective of whether they are being assisted by former DfE officials with a good knowledge of the department.”

The DfE would not confirm if there was an investigation into the approval process regarding BAU Foundation.

 

FACTFILE

  • Mentora Academies Trust and BAU Foundation are both based in Bristol
  • BAU Foundation was incorporated on August 7, 2013
  • BAU Foundation had seven board members, including Lord Bichard, Dame Hassan, Dr Kay and Enver Yucel
  •  Mentora Academies Trust was incorporated on August 14, 2013
  •  Mentora Academies Trust had eight board members, including Lord Bichard, Dame Hassan and Dr Kay
  •  BAU Foundation would have run the schools under the Mentora Academies Trust banner in the UK