DfE keeping situation at Woodfield School under review including safeguarding and governance matters

 

Woodfield School strikers and supporters outside the Department for Education on Wednesday

 

The Regional Director of the Department for Education has responded to concerns raised by NEU officers regarding the situation at Woodfield School, managed by Compass Learning Partnership.

Dr Vanessa Odgen recognises the challenges of the situation at Woodfield but says that the responsibility for managing industrial relations lie with the trust as employer and the DfE cannot intervene directly.

On a particular safeguarding concern that has arisen during the strike, she says she expects trusts to provide assurance that they have effective arrangements in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of pupils, and robust safeguarding policies and procedures that are implemented consistently across all academies.

Dr Ogden reveals that her team have been engaging with the Compass Trust to understand contingency arrangements in place on strike days: 

Our engagement is intended to ensure I am appropriately sighted on any risks, rather than to intervene in the trust's operational management of the dispute.

A central concern of the strikers has been high executive pay in the trust when the lowest paid are being asked to accept a cut in wages and when there is nearly £4m in trust reserves.

The Regional Director states:

You also raise concerns about the trust's use of public funds, including its reserves, deductions from school budgets, and support provided to Compass Futures. We are working with out Schools Financial Support and Oversight Team (SFSO) to assess the trust's financial position and these issues. Where there are concerns about transparency, value for money, or appropriate use of funding, we will seek assurances and take action if needed. The Secretary of State has emphasised that executive pay must be justified, transparent, and proportionate.  We challenge trusts where pay does not demonstrate value for money or align with the wider public sector, and we are strengthening expectations through the Academy Trust Handbook to ensure pay increases are clearly justified and reasonable.

Dr Ogden concludes by stating that the DfE will continue to keep the situation under review, including in relation to safeguarding assurances and governance matters, and 'will respond as appropriate should any significant concerns arise'. 

 

 

BRENT NEU MEMBERS CONTINUE TO FIGHT FIRE AND REHIRE TOMORROW WEDNESDAY 17TH JUNE

 

From Brent National Education Union

   

NEU members at Woodfield School, run by Compass Learning Partnership- a special school catering for children and young people with complex needs and autism- are still trying to save the jobs of 47 highly experienced and skilled teaching assistants. The importance of these staff was highlighted when a pupil absconded from the school, unsupervised, on a strike day. Striking workers intervened to try to protect the pupil.

Staff have been supported by Brent Council, a number of parents and school transport staff, local union groups, MP Barry Gardiner and the Green Party. It seems that everyone in the community except the Trust itself can see the importance of this campaign.

Lucy Cox, Joint District Secretary stated today on the picket line: 

Fire and Rehire will soon be illegal by law- this shows how desperate the Trust is to cover up their misuse of public money

Strikers continue their campaign on the picket line TOMORROW Wednesday 17th June  7.30-9.30 at NW9 7LY and OUTSIDE THE DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION, Great Smith Street, Westminster 12 NOON TOMORROW

 

Strike Day 18: Why NEU members at Woodfield School are on strike

 

BREAKING: Woodfield dispute escalates as academy chief issues 47 staff with 30 day fire and rehire notice

 

The Chief Executive Officer of the Compass Learning Trust that runs two special schools in Brent, Woodfield School and The Village School, has issued 47 Woodfield staff with a 30 day consultation notice after which fire and rehire would be implemented:

Staff now have two options available:  

Option 1 – Accept the Variation of Contract

Staff may choose to sign a variation to their contract based on the final offer outlined above by no later than 8th July 2026. Individual variation letters will be issued during the coming week.

Option 2 – Decline the Variation of Contract

 

Staff who choose not to sign the variation will be invited to dismissal and re-engagement meetings.

Fire and rehire is due to be outlawed in January 2027  so the Trust is moving quickly. The letter from the CEO outlines the Trust's claim that its faces a dire financial situation. This of course raises the issue of how it got into this situation. The NEU were never given these deficit details. There is no mention of the £3.8m held in reserves:     

The purpose of the [proposed] restructure was to address the school’s ongoing and unsustainable financial position and to ensure its long-term viability. Woodfield School reported a deficit of £76,469 at the end of the 2023/24 financial year, which increased significantly to a net deficit of £372,422 in 2024/25. Current projections indicate that, without intervention, the deficit will increase by a further £517,790 over the next three years, resulting in a cumulative five-year projected deficit of £966,681. These figures exclude agency staffing costs, where current annual expenditure exceeds £600,000. The Trust is taking steps to bring expenditure under control.

Brent NEU has previously raised concerns over poor financial management at the school and high executive salaries. LINK The CEO addresses this:

In addition to the school-level savings identified through the restructure process, the Trust has also reviewed its central costs following discussions with the NEU regarding the level of top slice charged to schools and the cost of leadership at Trust level. As a result, the Trust has reduced the top slice by £400 per pupil. To support this reduction, following the departure of the previous CEO in April 2026, both the CEO and CFO (Chief Finance Officer)  roles have been reduced to 0.6 FTE.

The management's initial proposal was to reduce the hours of support staff by 3-1/2 hours per week equating to a loss of £200 a month. Workers rejected the offer below as derisory. It reduced the reduction in hours by one hour.

An increase in contracted hours from the proposed 32.5 hours to 33.5 hours per week.

A free school lunch for affected staff, provided by the school kitchen.

A 1.30pm finish at the end of each term for all staff.

A half-day for affected staff on the October Performance Management INSET day.

30 minutes of overtime for affected staff for the completion of Behaviour Reports.

Pay protection until 28 February 2027

The NEU will continue striking and has called for massive support for its picket lines on Thursday and Friday of this week.  The strike by mainly female mainly ethnic minority low paid workers recalls the struggle of Jayaben Desai and her fellow Grunwick strikers and today's school workers are equally determined.

The NEU Regional London Office will be receiving advice from senior lawyers, probably by Friday this week and meanwhile the NEU London senior officer are stressing to members that they should not sign under any circumstances- as negotiations are meant to be still ongoing, and the strike is also ongoing. The NEU will be in a stronger position legally if members do not sign and continue the campaign. Members are advised to continue the strike action to demonstrates that the workers are still in hope of an improved offer.

Even if people did sign, this would not need doing until July anyway as there is a consultation period first, giving time for a proper legal response to the letters.

 

The picket line is from 7.30am outside the school:

Woodfield School, Glenwood Avenue, Kingsbury, London, NW9 7LY

 

 

 

Day 1 of a new round of strikes at Woodfield School as Trust attempt to use a soon to be unlawful 'fire & rehire' strategy against their workers

Today was Day 1 of a new round of strikes at Woodfield SEND School in Kingsbury, or Day 14 if you count all the strike days that have taken place since the Academy Trust that runs the school went on the offensive in trying to lower the wages and employment status of support staff at the school - staff who are absolutely vital in the care and education of young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

After an ACAS intervention and an unsatisfactory meagre offer from management, the Trust went back on the offensive and are attempting to operate a 'fire and rehire' strategy in which staff are sacked and then re-employed on worse terms.

Brent West MP, Barry Gardiner, was one of the main campaigners against this discredited and damaging to labour relations strategy that will be outlawed by January next year.  Why the Academy Trust decided to try and use this against their own staff before the law change and a use almost unknown in the education sector. is somewhat of a mystery.  The NEU is not prepared to standby while a precedent is set.

Despite a drenching, the mood on the picket line remained buoyant and determined. Messages of solidarity were received from NEU branches from all over the country.  Labour Party and Green Party councillors were on the  picket line in support of the strikers and there were loud toots of solidarity from passing traffic.

A series of strike days are planned in an effort to persuade the Academy Trust back to the negotiating table.

 

 

The spirit of Grunwick lends itself to the strikers 

 

Then the rain came down!

 

 

Cllr Iman Ahmadi Moghaddam  & Cllr Amandine Alexandre (Green Party)

 

 

Cllr Jake Rubin (lead member for schools) and Cllr Gwen Grahl (Brent Council deputy leader) 

 

If you would like to support the strikers please write to the chair of the  academy trustees on this LINK.

Cllr Gwen Grahl, Deputy Leader of Brent Council, backs Woodfield School strikers on eve of first of a series of strikes. Urges the Academy Trust to re-enter negotiations with the NEU

 

Note: Woodfield School is part of an Academy Trust, directly funded by the Government and does not come under local education authority oversight.

Brent NEU announced:    

NEU members at Woodfield School, run by Compass Learning Partnership- a special school catering for children and young people with complex needs and autism- are striking again, in their continued fight to retain their pay, resulting in the school being closed. The Trust have refused to negotiate further saying they will instead resort to a tactic of FIRE AND REHIRE (soon to be made an illegal practice).

Staff at the school believe their pay should not be cut whilst high executive salaries have been maintained despite the appointment of a new CEO who is not from a teaching background. The NEU has whistle blown over financial irregularities at the Trust and maintains that low paid frontline classroom staff and their pupils should not be the victims.

Jenny Cooper, local branch secretary, has stated:

We have the support of several local politicians including Barry Gardiner MP and we believe parents would prefer that the Trust negotiate their way out of this dispute. No one wants to see this level of strike action.

Stop Fire and Rehire at Woodfield School in Kingsbury - support the strikers

 

One of the many strike days at Woodfield School last winter- strikers addressed by Daniel Kebede (NEU General Secretary) 

 

Strikes return to Woodfield School in Kingsbury following the Academy Trust that runs the school moving to Fire and Rehire support staff.  Fire and Rehire is the practice by bad employers of sacking staff and then re-employing staff  on worse wages and conditions of service. Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North, was a leading campaigner calling for the practice to be outlawed.

 

Woodfield, is part of a small trust called Compass Learning. The NEU members (there’s about 70 of them) were out on strike in earlier in the academic year as the school were planning to cut hours, and therefore pay,  for Lead Learning Assistants (support staff members). The teachers also struck to defend their colleagues.

A spokesperson for Brent NEU said:

 

After 13 days of the most fun and lively picket lines management were forced to agree to go ACAS. They spent a day there, but the best they could offer was free school dinners and few extra hours. But stuck to the plan to cut hours across the board. 

Our members described the offer of schools dinners as being like ‘throwing scraps to the dogs’. 

Lead Learning Assistants are responsible for supporting the behaviour of teenagers with very complex needs who can become highly disregulated and who often live with complex mental health challenges. They are highly skilled workers. 

After ACAS and second round of offering voluntary redundancies/flexible working management announced that they were moving to fire and rehire. We have rebooted and are ready to resume strike action on June 2nd. 

The trust have almost £4 million in the bank. The CEO is on £120, 000. They are choosing to break low paid essential workers, rather than cut what they are ‘top slicing’ for their salaries and comfy offices. 

The NEU has informed Compass Learning of a series of strike days throughout June and July starting on June 1st.

  

STOP FIRE AND REHIRE AT WOODFIELD SCHOOL

✍️Write to Chair of Trustees Sebastian Oram and demand an end to fire and rehire at Woodfields School in Brent: LINK



Share in your WhatsApp groups and join the picket line here:  HERE 

BRENT NEU members strike at Local Schools Trust they claim is intent on cutting staff pay while top executives maintain their own pay

 

The picket line outside Woodfield School  (Credit: Brent NEU)

From Brent branch of the National Education Union 

NEU members at Woodfield School- a special school catering for children and young people with complex needs and autism - are striking in a fight to retain their pay, resulting in the school being closed.

Hardworking learning support assistants at the school, which is run by Compass Learning Partnership face pay cuts resulting from a forced change in hours.  The local trust faced three days of strikes at their other school last term. The current changes were decided as part of a restructure which retained high levels of pay for top executives.

 

The NEU has reached out to the trust and to Brent council to try to resolve the pay and funding issues but there is no resolution at the time of writing.

  

Jenny Cooper, local branch secretary, has stated:

 

This school and trust cannot operate without our members- they are the frontline workforce behind a company that generates generous salaries for its top executives. We do not see why staff in the classroom should see cuts to their pay when it is already so low.

NEU's 'deep disappointment' at role of Brent Labour leader and Chief Whip in The Village School academisation following news it will become part of a Multi-Academy Trust tomorrow

 The Brent branch of the National Education yesterday passed the reolution below on the 'very sad news' the The Village School in Kingsbury will become part of the Woodfield Multi-Academy Trust tomorrow. The NEU has fought hard and long against the proposals with widespread support from trade unions, political parties, parents,  community groups and Brent NorthMP Barry Gardiner.

The move means that apart from Phoenix School Arch on St Rapahel's Estate that special education in Brent has been privatised. A sad day indeed.

Brent NEU congratulates the members at The Village for their brilliant and hard fought campaign against becoming part of a Multi-Academy Trust with Woodfield academy. We also thank Barry Gardiner, Brent North MP, the local Constituency Labour Parties, and the community for their support.

We are however deeply disappointed that Cllr Sandra Kabir, Chair of Governors of The Village and Chief Whip of the Labour Group supported the academisation and Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council did not use his position and offices to strongly oppose this privatisation of our outstanding Local Authority school.

Brent NEU condemns 'abject failures of governance' at Woodfield School - £400k in wrongful payments uncovered

Brent National Education Union responds to the ESFA report on Woodfield School financial irregularities. NEU statement below:

Damning ESFA Report exposes abject failures of Governance at Woodfield School.

£400,000 in wrongful payments uncovered.

An investigation by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) into financial irregularities related to the academy and Multi Academy Trust (MAT) conversion process between Woodfield academy school and The Village school in Brent has just been published.

£400,000 was wrongly paid to two consultants, one of whom was Greg Foley who acted simultaneously as Chair of Trustees, Member of the Finance Committee and Chief Financial Officer. (All this information can be found out from public records.) Those in charge at Woodfield failed utterly in their duty of oversight and care of monies that should have been spent on their special needs pupils.

Going onto the school Website and looking at the names of Trustees reveals that Kay Charles has been an ex-officio Trustee since September 2017. Kay Charles became the Executive Head of The Village and Woodfield school on the same date. Records show that she was in attendance at every Governing Board meetings for 2017/18.

Kay Charles Ex-officio (appointed 01.09.17)

Resources Committee

Evaluation & strategic development Head Performance management

Brent Schools Partnership

The Village School

None

In the ESFA report there are repeated references to the Chair and Chief Finance Officer (CFO) breaching and not complying with the financial regulations of academy trusts. This was under her oversight.  

Hank Roberts, Brent NEU President and National Executive member said:

“As whistleblower I feel totally vindicated by the findings of this report. The bankrupt academy system is an open invitation to help yourself to school funds. Kay Charles has proved herself inadequate to the task of halting this corruption. If she won’t put the interests of state education above her own, she should go. 

“Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council and Sandra Kabir, Chair of Governors of The Village were warned that there were questions over the finances at Woodfield a year ago, yet neither expressed opposition to the proposal that Woodfield and The Village become a MAT. Now is the time they should show leadership and call for this proposal to be dropped rather than support this disaster in waiting. This is the agreed policy of Brent Constituency Labour Parties and recently was unanimously confirmed by the Local Campaign Forum (LCF) and fully supported by the local Labour MP Barry Gardiner.” 

Governors and trustees of the two schools were aware of the financial situation and failed to act on NEU members’ concerns. Despite this, the majority of these governors and trustees are proposed as trustees and governors of the new MAT where they will be overseeing a budget almost twice as big.

Cllr Jumbo Chan, who has supported the campaign to stop the academisation throughout, said:

“The decision by the governing body of The Village to academise the school was wholly unnecessary and misguided. In light of the ESFA’s damning report into Woodfield School, it has further highlighted a dearth of wisdom at the heart of the decision.

“In addition to offering no concrete benefit, the decision to academise ignored completely the swathes of concerns voiced by parents, campaigners, and the school’s own outstanding teachers and support staff.

“Nearly a year later, the academisation process has left The Village School in limbo, demoralising and sowing uncertainty amongst its committed staff.

“That the ESFA has now produced a litany of gross failings with regards to Woodfield School – including procurement, related party transactions, governance regulations and register of interests, including large payments of thousands of pounds of public money to consultants – corresponds to problems in the academisation process elsewhere.

The ESFA report is a wake-up call that leads to the unavoidable conclusion that the whole academisation process should immediately cease. I urge the governing body to now finally listen to its staff, and withdraw its application to academise, and remain within the Brent Council family of schools.”

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ESFA find 'failings & weaknesses' that breach the Academies Financial Handbook at Woodfield School



Whistle blowers who raised concerns about financial mismanagement at Woodfield School, an academy, have been vindicated by a report into a review by the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).  The National Education Union had cited these issues as one among many reasons to oppose the academisation of the Village School and the formation on a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) with Woodfield.  Village School education workers have taken strike action against the academisation proposals. In addition to to the finance problems there have also been concerns over equality at the school and the treatment of BAME staff. LINK

The review found that Woodfield, with a current roll of only 157 pupils, had paid consultants £400,000 since 2013-14 for various HR and financial services. They also found breaches regarding procurement, related party transactions (when a governor or trust member sells servics to the school), governor regulations and register of interests.

The NEU had repeatedly requested Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt to meet with them to discuss their concerns about the school.

The Executive Summary states:

Multiple concerns were received on 24 April 2018 in relation to Woodfield School, (hereafter referred to as the trust), raising concerns about financial management and governance. As a result, ESFA commissioned a financial management and governance review of the trust which took place from 25 to 27 June 2018.  

The ESFA review identified a number of failings and weaknesses in financial management and governance arrangements that breach the Academies Financial Handbook (AFH) 2017, the accounts direction, the charities SORP and potentially tax legislation. These also validate the concerns raised. Key findings of the review have confirmed: 

•           in relation to procurement practises, non-compliance with the at cost requirements and the trust’s scheme of delegation (paragraphs 11 to 17 refer) 

•           failure to declare related party transactions with the former chair’s limited company in the audited accounts, as required by the accounts direction in relation to disclosure of material transactions with related parties and the Charities SORP relating to the disclosure of the remuneration and benefits received by charity trustees (paragraphs 18 to 21 refer) 

•           the trust engaged the services of two consultants, one from 2013/14 and the other from 2014/15 to July 2018. One of which held the role of chief financial officer (CFO) off-payroll, between 1 December 2015 and 26 June 2018, as well as being appointed as the chair of trustees and a member of the resources committee (paragraphs 22 to 24 and 31 to 34 refer) 

•           the trust have not reported their current governance arrangements and structure on their website and Get Information about Schools (GIAS) (paragraphs 25 to 30 refer) 

•           the trust’s register of interests has not been kept up to date (paragraphs 35 and 36 refer) 

It is likely that the MAT proposal will be delayed until the ESFA are satisfied that the issues have been dealt with or perhaps the whole MAT project will be abandoned.

The full report is available below - click bottom right for a full-size version:

Village School academisation delayed again as more questions arise

The date for the academisation of The Village School in Brent, in preparation for the formation of a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) with Woodfield School, has been put back again. I understand that this is in order for the Education and Skills Funding Agency to be sure that alleged irregularities at Woodfield have been addressed.

The new closure date according to Edubase, the government school information service is now February 28th, 2019 although that could change.

Interestingly one of the concerns has been the lack of separation between proposed Trustees and the governing board. As far as I know Sandra Kabir, (a Labour councillor) is still Chair of Governors at the school but Edubase records her as having resigned from that position last July:

 

 

Cllr Muhammed Butt has still not responded to the National Education Union's request for a meeting about the academisation and MAT proposals despite their heart-felt plea reported on Wembley Matters HERE

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NEU plea to Brent's Labour leader: 'Please, please Muhammed, can you respond to us' on academisation

Cllr Butt maintaining silence

The President of Brent National Education Union and The Village School NEU representatives have written to the borough's Labour councillors and their leader, Cllr Muhammed Butt, asking for a response to their communications about the academisation of The Village School, in Kingsbury and alleged financial irregularities.

Brent North MP and Labour Shadow Minister, has written to government ministers about the NEU's concerns over the financial background to The Village's academisation move. The NEU had sent Butt and his fellow councillors the Brent NEU resolution on the issue, the resolution from The Village School NEU and the Brent Constituency Labour Party  motion of support and requested a meeting.

Butt has not responded.

The NEU write:

We attach for your information the letter from Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North. We commend his continued commitment for The Village school and his support and actions to keep the school within the local authority.  Barry wrote to the Government Minister, despite the fact that he is obviously really busy in Parliament particularly with his role as Shadow Minister, and has written on more than one occasion to the Chair of Governors and the Headteacher of The Village over this time when the staff and community are campaigning to stop the academisation of the school. As you can see he references being contacted by Hank (President of Brent NEU).

We are therefore very disappointed that, despite reminders including copying you all in, both our letter and resolution from Brent NEU, the resolution from the Village NEU members and a request to meet, and the resolution passed at the Brent Central LP meeting, all asking for Cllr Muhammed Butt to act with regards to The Village or even just to respond to our communications, we have heard nothing.  Anything you can do to make this happen would be much appreciated.

Please, please Muhammed can you respond to us?

The Kilburn Times reports this week LINK that  the Executive headteacher of The Village has given a provisional date for academisation as February 2019 but quotes her as saying this is subject  to confirmation next term. According to the NEU academisation was delayed by an Education Funding Agency investigation into the accounts of Woodfield School which was to partner The Village in a multi-academy trust. LINK

Despite recent changes in Labour Party policy pledging to oppose any further academisation Cllr Butt appears to continue to support academy schools. He pushed for the academisation of Copland High School and sat on the successor Ark Elvin governing body. He has supported the extension  of Ark's empire in Brent through the new Ark Somerville Primary School which will be built in the car park of York House, near Wembley Stadium, next to a poor air quality main road. He removed a Labour councillor who had opposed planning permission for the school from the council's Planning Committee. LINK

Despite this and the Brent Central CLP's support for the staff's fight against academisation, Cllr Butt has remained unmoved and has supported the Labour Chief Whip, chair of governors at the school, who was a major force behind the acadmeisation bid.

Cllr Jumbo Chan, (Labour) himself a teacher in a neighbouring borough, in contrast has been vociferous in his support for the NEU and Labour Party position on academisation. In February, before the local elections,  many of his Labour councillor colleagues signed a letter oppoasing academisation and this was followed by another joint letter by the newly elected Labour councillors to the Kilburn Times in June. LINK

Barry Gardiner's letter to  Lord Agnew, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System: (Click on bottom right corner to enlarge):