King Edward VII: Parents plan protest over school reportedly joining Brigantia trust in 'closed doors deal'

The community of King Edward VII School [KES], which has sites in Broomhall and Crosspool, is still reeling over the inspection in January when it was downgraded from ‘Good’ to ‘Inadequate’, leading the Department of Education to hand down a compulsory academisation order.

Many parents are unhappy over the move. In a survey of which academic trust they would rather see the school join which received some 400 responses, Minerva Learning Trust was the preferred candidate – but 86 per cent said they would rather see the process delayed outright.

Despite this, it has been suggested KES will be joining Brigantia Learning Trust according to the agenda for an upcoming the meeting of the Department for Education’s Yorkshire and the Humber advisory board on April 25. Now, unhappy parents have accused authorities of “closed door deals” and a lack of transparency over the process, and are planning a protest at 11.30am this Saturday (April 22). Those involved will gather outside Sheffield’s City Hall first and then march to the Town Hall.

Emma Wilkinson, who has a daughter in Y7 at the school, told The Star: “I’ve had concerns about this from the beginning. One of the things we’re frustrated about as a parent is the lack of transparency – it’s something that has been done to us, not with us.

“I don’t want academisation at all but if it must happen then parents must have more say. The feedback we collected at our last meeting was parents liked Minerva.

“We have had no information over what other trusts came forward or were considered.

“I feel their [Ofsted’s] judgement is not correct at all. I have no real understanding at all how this decision was reached and the steps taken to join an academic trust is damaging overall.

“Our views have not been taken into account. We as parents chose KES and that’s all been taken away from us.”

In the report in January, inspectors voiced concerns over safeguarding and bullying, particularly to do with pupils reportedly leaving school grounds at lunchtime. The report’s first line was: “Leaders at King Edward VII school do not do enough to keep children safe.”

The report only rated the school’s ‘Leadership and Management’ as Inadequate, but this means the entire grade is dropped as a whole.

If KES joined Brigantia Learning Trust – which has currently manages five schools, two of which are rated ‘Requires Improvement’ – it would be the largest school on its books. In fact, with 1,800 students alone, at that point KES would account for one third of its entire student cohort.

Parent Dave Clay said: “The whole thing shouldn’t be happening. I question the validity of the inspection report – it’s a school with 100 years history of being good being brought down by one and a half day’s of inspection. Now, behind the scenes, deals are being done between the eight members of the DfE’s advisory board, who are all mult-academy trus leaders. I feel it’s all being sorted out from a chat on a golf course somewhere, that’s the level of transparency we’re dealing with.”

“It’s not in the kids’ interests, nor the school’s. It’s a travesty,” he added.

A spokesperson for Brigantia said: “The Department for Education has informed Brigantia Learning Trust that a discussion is due to take place with the Advisory Board and Regional Director at their forthcoming meeting in April regarding King Edward VII School. Brigantia Learning Trust will await further communication from the Yorkshire & Humber Regions’ Group regarding their decision.”