The Brook Learning Trust runs three schools, Ebbsfleet Academy, Hayesbrook School in Tonbridge, and High Weald Academy in Cranbrook and appears to be in serious trouble, both financially and in terms of the standing of all of its three schools.
I monitor a number of factors that indicate how a school supports its students and how it stands in its locality. These include: pupil vacancy rates in year Seven; popularity of schools expressed through first preferences when making applications; percentage drop out rates from the school for all reasons; and proportion of pupils leaving for Elective Home Education; together with academic performance. These three schools are each amongst the worst in the county on four in the case of Hayesbrook or all five of the first five measures for the other two schools. I consider that they can therefore be regarded as generally, if not academically, failing. These common themes across the Trust’s schools suggest the problem starts with the ethos and standards set by the Trust.
The situation at High Weald Academy is especially dire, as government is proposing a multi-million pound premises investment into this school which appears to have no future under the Trust.
I look below at the factors affecting each school and the Trust as a whole. I now have data showing a further fall in first choice applications for each school for Year Seven admission in September 2018, which will surely see the Trust heading for insolvency and for each school immense financial difficulty in providing an acceptable level of education.
Trust Finances
The Brook Learning Trust accounts for 2016, the most recent available, record that unless its finances improved in 2016-17 the Trust would not have sufficient funds to continue to operate. This situation has clearly been brought about by the low numbers in each school, and the data below leaves no doubt that the situation will have deteriorated further.
Excerpt from Company Accounts
The academy trust has been very concerned for some time about funding limitations and, despite having discussed it at length with the EFA over some years, no resolution is in sight. So whilst these accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis, the board of trustees is concerned that, unless2017/18fundingishigherthancurrentlyexpected,thetrustwillnothavesufficientfundsto continue to operate for that academicyear. Thus in conclusion there are material uncertainties about the academy trust's ability to continue as a going concern, but these accounts have nonetheless been prepared on a going concern basis”.
Other Schools in Difficulty
The largest element of any school’s finance is generated by the number of pupils on roll. In recent years, Marlowe Academy, Chaucer Technology College, Pent Valley School, Oasis Hextable Academy, and Walmer Science College, have all featured in my high vacancy list, all being in the top ten as long ago as 2012, and all have closed. Angley School, the predecessor of High Weald Academy, had the sixth highest vacancy rate in that year at 39%. Swadelands School, another school in long term difficulty, was taken over last year after being placed in Special Measures and has been renamed The Lenham School.
CENSUS, ALLOCATION AND PREFERENCE DATA
|
| | Year 7 Census Vacancy Rate | Capacity | 1st Preferences out of capacity | Local Authority Allocations 2018 |
| | | | 2018 | 2017 | Number | Proportion of Intake |
| The Ebbsfleet Academy | 43% | 150 | 46% | 46% | 67 | 46% |
| The Hayesbrook School | 48% | 151 | 36% | 40% | 57 | 38% |
| High Weald Academy | 60% | 150 | 27% | 44% | 32 | 38% |
| County N/S Average | 7% | | 91% | 85% | 731 | 6% |
Note: 46 of the 63 schools had no LAAs.
| PERFORMANCE AND DROP OUT DATA |
| | 2017 GCSE Progress | 2017 GCSE Attainment | % Fall in Numbers Years 7-11 | 2016-17 Home Educated % |
| The Ebbsfleet Academy | -0.27% | 42.4 | 24% | 4.8% |
| The Hayesbrook School | -0.12% | 43.8 | 12% | <1% |
| High Weald Academy | -0.38% | 35.9 | 18% | 3.2% |
| County N/S Average | -0.22% | 38.4 | -1% | 1.6% |
Year 7 Vacancy Data
This measures the number of empty spaces in Year 7 for each school at the time of the Year 7 Schools Census which took place in October 2017, compared with the Planned Admission Number for the school.
There are 66 non-selective schools in Kent. High Weald Academy in Cranbrook had the highest vacancy rate at 60%, with just 60 Year Seven pupils in a school designed for 150. After Holmesdale School and New Line Learning, the next two highest vacancy rates are at The Hayesbrook School 48% and Ebbsfleet Academy at 43%. You will find a recent article on vacancy levels across the county here.
First Preferences As a Percentage of Capacity
This refers to the percentage of first preferences for each school at allocation time on 1st March each year, compared with the capacity of the school. The County Average of 91% shows that most schools will take in first choices for nearly all their places, so these very low percentages are a second indicator of unpopularity with local families.
High Weald has the lowest percentage of first preferences for 2018 admission at 27% of capacity, then come: Hartsdown 28%; Hayesbrook 36%; New Line Learning; Holmesdale; Aylesford; then Ebbsfleet at 46%.
For 2017, lowest was Hartsdown at 31%, then: New Line Learning; Holmesdale; Hayesbrook 40%; Royal Harbour; High Weald Academy 44%; and Ebbsfleet 46%.
The situation is deteriorating most sharply at High Weald, followed by Hayesbrook.
Local Authority Allocations as Proportion of Intake
Local Authority Allocations (LAA) are children who are are offered to no school of their choice, but allocated to a local school (where possible) with vacancies. Highest proportion is at Hartsdown Academy where 47% of allocations, nearly half of the children offered places in the school for September 2018, are LAAs, and so presumably don't want to be there. Next come: Ebbsfleet Academy at 46%; New Line Learning at 45%; and Hayesbrook and High Weald at 38%.
GCSE Performance
Progress 8, explained here, is the government’s preferred measure of performance at GCSE, measuring the progress of individual children from KS2 at the end of primary school through to GCSE. Whilst theoretically non-selective schools could perform as well as grammars, the framework still favours selective schools in general. Attainment 8 measures the achievement across 8 subjects, and so grammar schools will generally out-perform non-selectives. The unpopularity of the Brook Trust schools does not appear to be primarily dissatisfaction with academic performance with Hayesbrook, in particular, well above average on both measures, and Ebbsfleet above average on achievement. However, these performances are likely to have been achieved at the expense of less able children leaving the schools – see the other factors below.
% Fall in Numbers Years 7-11
This figure measures the change in numbers for the Year Group between Year 7 on entry, measured in October 2013, through to Year 11 in October 2017. Some schools will see a further loss round to January 2018, the deadline for being counted in GCSE results, but these figures are not yet available. Overall, there is an increased roll of 1% across all non-selective schools, reflecting increased numbers coming into the county, dampened by children leaving the system. Fall in numbers at individual schools can be brought about by several reasons, most commonly change of school, withdrawal for Elective Home Education and Children going Missing from Education, which can include transient populations. It is not possible to separate these out. Excessive numbers are most likely to reflect unhappiness with provision. My recent article on vacancies, referred to above, is here. Biggest loss is at Holmesdale which lost 34% or an astonishing third of its population. Next comes Ebbsfleet Academy with 24% followed by Aylesford 21% and High Weald 18%. Then come: Lenham/Swadelands; Oasis, Isle of Sheppey; Towers; Cornwallis; Hillview; Charles Dickens; and then Hayesbrook at 12%.
2016-17 Home Educated %
There is considerable media discussion on the reasons for families choosing Elective Home Education (EHE). One that is usually ignored is where a school is failing its children for whatever reason, to the extent that parents withdraw their children. This is not the positive reason that so many home school enthusiasts put forward. Whilst we do not know specifically the reasons from the broad statistics provided, when 4.4%, or an average of more than one child per class, is withdrawn in one year there is something badly wrong. This is the figure for Ebbsfleet Academy, the largest percentage in Kent. It is followed by what could be called ‘the usual suspects’: Oasis Academy, Sheppey, 3.3%; Hartsdown 3.1%; Community College Whitstable and New Line Learning 2.8%; and High Weald 2.6%. Hayesbrook does not feature.
The Brook Learning Trust Academies
Ebbsfleet Academy
This is one of three schools that I have called ‘Tough Love Academies’, and which appears to revel in its tough media image. The link provides further links to background on the school. The school is in Dartford, along with five other non-selective schools, all oversubscribed. The situation in 2018 with all local boys’ grammar schools oversubscribed has seen a number of grammar qualified boys allocated to Ebbsfleet to the horror of many families. For 2017 entry, 13 children were allocated by the Local Authority (LACs) who did not apply to the school. This figure has soared to 67, the second highest percentage in the county at 46%, for 2018 admission. If they were all to turn up, which is most unlikely, it could present a major problem to have so many children who did not want to be at the school. However, 'Tough Love' would soon see many of them packing their bags and going who knows where.
The school performs relatively well academically but a quarter of its current Year 11 cohort, the second highest figure in the county, disappeared from the school since Year Seven. If these were factored in, performance would fall. I do not believe that all, or indeed most of the 4.4% of the school numbers, who ‘chose to leave’ for Home Education did so voluntarily, and the Trust surely ought to have investigated what is going on. Clearly ‘Tough Love’ does not work, except to drive out weaker pupils. With just 46% of its places chosen by first preferences ‘Tough Love’ is also failing badly to attract or retain pupils at Ebbsfleet Academy. The other two TL Academies are Hartsdown and Oasis Academy, Isle of Sheppey, that also appear on most of the above lists, underlining the complete failure of the philosophy.
High Weald Academy
A disaster area by every single measure above. There is also a high turnover of headteachers to take into account as the Trust attempts to turn the school round, but does not appear to have the ability to do so. I remember a generation ago when its predecessor, Angley School, was popular, successful and oversubscribed. Frankly, its current roll, intake numbers, high proportion of LAAs, retention level, drop out levels and academic performance now offer little realistic prospect of recovery under the Brook Learning Trust. The Trust pins its hopes on new premises being built under the Priority Schools Programme, ‘one four projects in our region’ (actually 13 in Kent!). The article claims: ‘The High Weald Academy continues to go from strength to strength’ taking hyperbole into fantasy. Surely the Brook Trust should not be trusted with such an investment under its control, as the school is not currently financially viable because of falling numbers. If it is to remain open, then it desperately needs competent sponsors and Brook Learning Trust has lost any credibility.
Hayesbrook School
This is the puzzle for me. Academically performing well, in the top quarter of non-selective schools for Progress 8, and eighth highest for Attainment 8, highest performing non-selective in Tonbridge, it ought to attract pupils in large numbers. However, it does not. Fourth highest vacancy rate in Year Seven; second lowest percentage of first choices; fourth highest proportion of LAAs; tenth highest drop out rate Year 7 to 11 - but presumably boys moving to other schools as there is an insignificant take up of EHE. I have heard suggestions of a tough disciplinary approach but nothing more. Any answers?
Brook Learning Trust
The current CEO of the Trust, who had previously worked in a senior role in the Trustm took up post in January 2016, following the resignation of the previous CEO, Deborah Coslett, who had previously been head of Hayesbrook School. She also had time to run an Education Consultancy part-time with Nigel Blackburn, KCC's Principal Secondary School Adviser (also part-time) and also a previous Headteacher at Hayesbrook. It may well be that the Trust needed an external influence to challenge its own view that ‘the Brook Learning Trust is a successful and nationally recognised multi-academy trust’' which it clearly is not. It certainly would not come form KCC! The Trust’s website advertises for other schools to join it. Due diligence may be the reason that none have taken up the offer. The big question now is:’where now for the Brook Learning Trust?’ The Education and Skills Funding Agency has surely identified the above data, especially the massive worry of High Weald Academy, and the major capital investment planned. Far too many children’s futures are being damaged because of the Trust.
Like a number of other Academy Trusts, Brook is running a large Local Authority Pension Deficit, of £7.5 million, I calculate possibly the fourth highest in Kent. With its finances in such a dire situation, the Trust appears to have no way of recovering this. The get out clause is that if the Trust is disbanded, then government (i.e. the taxpayer) underwrites the loss ; it is not passed on to another Trust which takes over.
The evidence points strongly towards this as the solution for the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
