Four Mansfield schools have new homes following demise of district academy trust

The Evolve Trust, which was incorporated in Mansfield in 2014, has now been wound up. It follows a difficult 12 months, which saw one of its four schools temporarily closed over safety concerns, another told it requires improvement and a third rated inadequate by education watchdog Ofsted.

Evolve, which was based at The Beech Academy, had been responsible for The Brunts Academy, on The Park, Mansfield, Harlow Academy on Nottingham Road, Harlow Wood, and The Bramble Academy, on Oxclose Lane, Mansfield Woodhouse, as well as Beech, on Fairholme Drive, Mansfield.

However, on September 1, Beech and Fountaindale School – formerly known as Harlow Academy – were transferred to Rotherham-based Nexus Academy Trust, with Brunts and Brambles transferring to Greenwood Academies Trust on December 1.

Evolve – which described its purpose as “to provide first-class education and improve the life chances of all the children and young people in the trust” – has now closed. A statement on Evolve’s website says: “Evolve trustees are now in the process of winding up the trust.”

A spokesman for Colwick-based Greenwood – whose chief executive Wayne Norrie had been acting as interim chief executive officer at Evolve – said: “As part of an urgent need to instigate a period of positive change, the former board of trustees for the now-closed trust, with the support of the Department for Education, appointed new leadership, including an interim CEO. The new leadership was brought in to help stabilise the schools while they were brought formally into new trusts which could provide the full support each school needed.”

Beech was last inspected by Ofsted in 2017, when it was rated good. However, the latest inspections for the other three schools while part of Evolve were less positive.

Bramble Academy requires improvement

In January 2022, Bramble was told it requires improvement, following a two-day inspection in September 2021 – it was also rated requires improvement at its previous inspection in December 2017.

Ofsted said: “Support for the school’s leaders from the multi-academy trust has not brought about sufficient improvement since the previous inspection. Trustees do not hold leaders to account well enough, including over the quality of education.”

Pupils not safe at Harlow Academy

In March 2022, Ofsted said pupils at The Harlow Academy “are not safe in this school”.

Ofsted said: “The school was judged to be unsafe for pupils. The school was subsequently closed to all pupils for a short period of time. Some pupils returned to the school on a part-time basis while the significant staffing issues were being addressed.”

The report, following an inspection in January, rated the school, for 80 children aged three-18 with special needs, as inadequate in every category. It said: “Senior leaders from the trust have not heeded concerns from parents, staff and other professionals about unsafe staffing levels. The trustees responsible for the governance of the school do not have the information they need to hold senior leaders to account.”

The school fully reopened in April after the Department for Education commissioned additional support for the school from Nexus in the January, before the new board of trustees and interim CEO were appointed to Evolve in February.

At the time, Mr Norrie said: “Nothing is more important than the safety of our children and this is our immediate and top priority. Regrettably, this report makes for very difficult reading, I’d like to personally assure our school community we are taking the findings of the report incredibly seriously.

“As educators, we have a duty of care to ensure provision is of the very highest standards and that all pupils can learn in a safe and welcoming environment at all times. As such, we have taken swift and effective action to ensure all children attending the Academy are now safe."

A follow-up visit in July found “the school continues to be inadequate”, but “leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures”.

The Harlow Academy officially closed in the summer, replaced by Fountaindale School, which is now run by Nexus.

Brunts rated inadequate

Brunts was inspected in November – with its newly published report also rating it inadequate – just a month before it transferred to Greenwood.

The report said: “The school has a legacy of under resourcing and instability. Current school and trust leaders have stabilised the school following a turbulent period of high staff turnover. The interim board of trustees has reinstated levels of funding to what they should be.”

A Greenwood spokesman said: “The academy joined our trust in December, after the previous trust closed down. Prior to this, the academy was inspected in November. The challenges identified by the inspection are those we were aware needed to be addressed and we have been working closely with academy leaders and staff to address these matters as quickly and effectively as possible.

“Becoming part of our trust means our team of experts in teaching and learning, curriculum, safeguarding and other areas are able to work closely alongside leaders in the academy. Together they have already started putting into place the necessary actions which will enable us to rapidly drive forward significant changes for the benefit of pupils, families and colleagues.

“We are confident strong relationships with our parents and carers, the dedication of our colleagues and the deep care we have for our pupils, coupled with our expertise as a trust, will enable the academy to live up to our shared vision to provide the best possible education for our young people.”