Fraud probe as academy faces closure £550,000 hole in accounts of ‘broken’ school at centre of campaign to save it
POLICE have launched a fraud probe at a “broken” school facing closure within months. One arrest has been made in connection with the investigation at troubled Baverstock Academy and two other individuals were voluntarily interviewed, the West Midlands force has confirmed.
The academy, in Druids Heath, Birmingham, is to close in August , despite a community campaign to save it.
News of police involvement is yet another blow for a school mired in crisis.
In November, 2015, the Government’s Education Funding Agency (EFA) issued a financial notice to improve to The LEAP Academy Trust which runs the academy.
In a letter to the trust, Sue Baldwin, the EFA’s academies and maintained schools director, said the notice was being issued in light of “concern” over “financial irregularity” of payments to an unnamed recipient and “significant weaknesses” in financial oversight.
It came after an EFA investigation into “serious allegations of financial irregularity and governance” at the school between August and September. That investigation also uncovered a lack of policies and procedures to ensure public funds are protected and a “significant number of breach- es” of the Academies Financial Handbook.
The Birmingham Post reported in January that there was a £550,000 black hole in the school accounts.
Baverstock, which became academy in 2013, has also been special measures since 2014.
The school was rated inadequate by an in Ofsted and warned following a visit in November 2015 it was “not taking effective action towards the removal of special measures”.
A spokesman for the Department of Education confirmed this week that the school was closing following discussions with LEAP Academy Trust, the catalyst being the move to special measures, a fall in pupil numbers and a failure to find a sponsor.
In a November 2016 letter to school minister Lord Nash, then interim principal Peter Cox conceded that Baverstock had no future. He wrote: “The academy is broken.” “By closing Baverstock we can remove the many jaundiced, fatigued and inadequate staff and start again with a new vision and purpose.”
In February of that year, Baverstock announced it would no longer accept students to its sixth form because they could not offer the right “quality of education experience”.
It also confirmed that head teacher Thomas Marshall was “absent”. He has since resigned.
Then interim executive head teacher Sylvia Thomas said: “It is a very difficult time for the academy and we have had to make difficult decisions.
“However, we have listened to par- ents and hopefully we are doing the right thing going forwards.
“We will be suspending teaching in Year 12 – not closing the sixth form – and focusing our efforts to ensure statutory educational needs are met.
“We want to make sure the achievement for those in the lower school are as high as they should be before we take them into Year 12.”
The announcement angered parents who accused Baverstock of a lack of consultation. One mother said: “The school has handled this terribly. The anxiety and stress they have caused the students has been completely unnecessary.
“My concern now is that the level of teaching remains at a good standard if there are going to be fewer pupils in sixth form.”
Now the school finds itself at the centre of an ongoing police investigation. A spokesperson for West Midlands Police confirmed: “We continue to investigate an allegation of fraud in connection with Baverstock School.
“A 48-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of fraud; a 71-year-old woman and a 57-year-old man have also been voluntarily interviewed in connection with the inquiry.
“All three have been released while investigations continue.”
The 48-year-old was arrested in August 2016, the two others interviewed last month.
Despite Baverstock’s turbulent recent history, news of the impend-
The school has handled this terribly. The anxiety and stress they have caused the students has been completely unnecessary Parent