the priory federation of academies trust response to findings for the education funding agency

8/2/2019 The Priory Federation of Academies Trust Response to Findings for the Education Funding Agency

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Page 1 of67 22-Apr-12

The Priory Federation of Academies Trust

Response to Findings for the Education Funding Agency


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The Trust Response

1. Introductiona. The Federation has been though a period of rapid and extensive

organisational development since it opened in September 2008.The Trustees recognise that it is a highly visible and accountable

public body and that the financial management systems that were

adopted from the predecessor systems need to be supplemented

with more complex systems.

b. The External Assurance team stated that the findings of the reviewhave come as a severe shock to the organisation and made the

Federation realise that it needs to improve in the area of financial

management.

c. The shock is, in part, due to the fact that there have beennumerous audits of the Federations accounts since 2008,

including regular auditing by professional accountants, at

significant cost, and by the DfE/YPLA. Indeed in 2011, the DfE

confirmed the Federations judgement using the DfE SelfEvaluation Audit that the Federations financial management

systems were Outstanding.

d. The Trust believes that the External Assurance team wassupportive of the Federation and appreciated the overall context.

Indeed, the EA, in its findings, has acknowledged that theFederation:

i. is aware of the need to improve in the area of financialmanagement

ii. is aware of the need to consider the wider perceptions of itsactions

iii. has already put in place a number of actionsiv. was very receptive to how it could manage its operations

transparently

v. has already made improvements in financial managementby the time of the second visit.

2. The Trustees intend to work through each of the recommendations andimplement them fully.

3. The Trustees point out that the EA considered the Federation team to beopen and willing to make any necessary changes immediately. They

further suggest that the team would have been equally willing to make

these changes if they had been pointed out during any of the many visits

undertaken previously, which would have avoided the current situation.


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4. This main report is structured in the following way:a. Overviewb. Comment from Trustees and the Senior Teamc. Recommendations

5. The Annexes include:a. Report on The Priory Developmentsb. Letter to Look Northc. Comment on the Findingsd. Procurement annex.

6. Clearly, the original findings, and this response, have been written inconfidence as informal and internal documents and it is hoped that the

Department finds a way of both completing its work and then enabling

the Trustees, senior teams, and the 800+ staff to both implement the

changes needed and to focus on the 4500 students in the Federation's

care. We ask, therefore, for support from the Department over the release

of their final recommendations.

a. Overview

1. The Trust accepts the findings of the YPLA Report.2. The Trust has taken appropriate legal advice.3. The Trust accepted the resignation of the CEO.4. The Trust is reviewing the Compromise Agreement with the former FD.5. The Trust is reviewing its Financial Management systems.6. The Trust is reviewing and introducing policies that will ensure that all

members of the Trust are complying with its Financial Management

systems.

7. The Trusts new Finance Team has the capacity to introduce thesechanges.

8. The Trust believes that it has the confidence of the EFA to implement thechanges; and requests a DFE appointee to the Trust to provide further

support and guidance.

9. The Trustis pleased to note the EAs findings that the Federation has

been receptive to advice on how it could manage its operations10.The Trust genuinely believes that, if it had been alerted to the weaknesses

of the financial routines during one of the previous audits or the

compliance visits undertaken by the Department and External Auditors,

the changes would already have been made and the Trust would not be in

its current position.


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b. Comment from the Trustees and Senior Team

1. The Academies Programme and the Local Authority

a. The Trustees are fully supportive of the academies programme,which looks to the creation of wider learning communities that are

supportive of each other in order to improve the life chances of

students. The Trustees were inspired by this particular project

because it had support at local and national level and was

sponsored by a combination of the Local Authority and local

stakeholders.

b. Contrary to many general misconceptions, The Priory Federationworks closely with the LA: the LA is a Sponsor; it was involved in a

recent Pathfinder project to help reduce the number of exclusions

(signing up to a zero permanent exclusions policy); it has workedto develop DSUs in the new builds at Witham and Lincoln; the

Primary build at Witham was funded by the LA and it works

closely with the Federation on issues of Early Years.

c. The LA was appointed the procurer for all of the newdevelopments: the new builds at Lincoln Academy and Witham

Academy, the Boarding House and Sports Centre at Priory LSST

and the new build at Ruskin.

d. The LA requested The Priory LSST to make a bid to the FaradayProject. It had approached other schools in Lincolnshire but they

did not want to make a bid The Priory was the last to be

approached. The bid was successful - it was for a seven room

science suite including a planetarium, a debating/teaching room,

four labs and a research base.

e. A number of the predecessor schools that the LA asked theFederation to consider sponsoring were experiencing significant

financial difficulties.

2. Mr Gillilands Philosophy

a. The Trustees were fully aware that the aim of this particulardevelopment was to use the model created by Mr Gilliland in his

work at The Priory LSST and transfer those elements to the wider

communities of learning. Alongside an emphasis on targeted

learning in the classroom, a major, and very publicly stated,

element of this philosophy was the creation of a sense of

belonging. This was achieved by a focus on developing a unique

learning environment, thereby creating a sense of ownership. The

environment at The Priory LSST was the model. During Mr

Gillilands outstanding (Ofsted) leadership of The Priory LSSTthere was an emphasis on creating an inspirational learning


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environment that required an appropriate and significant

investment in artwork, sculptures, gardens, a chapel, a rifle range,

a swimming pool and a residential centre (the list is not

exhaustive). The residential centre was clearly a forerunner of the

offsite provision later introduced in the Federation in the form of

the French Curriculum Centre and Laughton Manor AlternativeProvision Centre. The DfE expected Mr Gilliland to export the

brand.

b. Mr Gilliland would be the first to point out that this investment,which was undertaken on a large scale, could have been spent on

other things at the school. He was always mindful of best practice

guidelines on the proportion of the revenue budget to be spent on

staffing.

c. There are many different views on how to raise standards ineducation and Mr Gilliland had a particular view.

3. Mr Gillilands Philosophy in a different setting

a. When Mr Gilliland was asked by the LA in 2006 to take on JosephRuston Technology College, before the Academies programme was

initiated, the first changes made to this failing school were

environmental and staffing levels. Appropriate and significant

investment in artwork, sculptures (a large water feature was soon

to be seen at the front of the school), the dining area, gardens and

classrooms was undertaken. One student was heard saying this istoo good for us. This approach was part of the reason why

attitudes to learning in the school changed so rapidly. Again, this

investment could have been spent in other ways; but the

judgement call was to create a high quality environment.

b. Similarly, Mr Gillilands philosophy used other ways to create asense of belonging amongst students and staff. Some of these are

quirky as part of their initiation, everyone is asked to walk the

labyrinth at The Priory on their first day. Trustees and staff

participate in training events that sometimes involve up-dates

over an evening meal. Sixth Formers are invited to a Welcome

Evening that creates a sense of belonging. Gifts are presented to

guest speakers and, as part of a duty of care, to staff who have had

bereavements, illness, a baby or a wedding.

4. Mr Gillilands Invitation to lead the Federation

a. The Trustees expected these investment patterns and traditions tobe carried through to the academies project because they were at

the heart of Mr Gillilands philosophy and Mr Gilliland had been

asked personally by the DfE if he would accept the Federationproject. The DfE selected Mr Gilliland in the full knowledge that


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his charismatic and forceful leadership style would be used to

bring about the changes in other schools that he had made at The

Priory. Representatives from the DfE met with Mr Gilliland on a

number of occasions, were given tours of the school and a full

insight into his philosophy and leadership style. It is a style that

has not made him universally popular and has created friction inthe Lincoln area; but Mr Gilliland was asked to give a five-year

commitment to the Federation project.

b. Being such a high profile policy, Mr Gilliland has been required toexplain the academy system on numerous occasions, most notably

to the BBC. The BBC has made detailed FOI requests on a number

of occasions as well as requests for interviews and filming access.

The Trust has devoted a significant period of time to this as well as

to responding to Look North requests for further information. A

selection of the information that has been provided is contained in

the Annexes to this report in order to provide evidence that the

Trust has attempted to cooperate fully with the press. A reporter

on a local paper was invited to join the first trip to the French

Centre this offer was declined.

c. Consequently, Mr Gilliland introduced, as expected by the DfE, hisphilosophy and leadership style into the academies project.

Although the Local Authority procured all of the capital projects

and, therefore, they handled all money for the new builds, Mr

Gillilands vision for the builds was strongly in evidence. Indeed, it

is possible to walk around all of the academies and get a sense ofidentity. Once again, creating a unique learning environment is at

the heart of these developments and this has been achieved

successfully. Money could have been spent on a different design

concept; but in inviting Mr Gilliland to oversee the project, the DfE

was well aware of his priorities and were very supportive of them.

d. Many observers have asked why the money could not have beenspread evenly amongst all the schools in the country, and clearly

this is a valid point; but it was not government policy at the time.

e. The Trustees are, therefore, content that there was a generalawareness of Mr Gillilands philosophy and style.

5. Additional Projects

a. The Trustees are also satisfied that the additional projects withinthis programme: the French Centre and the Laughton Manor

Alternative Curriculum Centre were consistent with the

overarching goals of the learning community and were purchased

appropriately. Both centres have experienced high levels of

investment to create environments that are inspirational.


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b. Mr Gilliland has often been accused of being lavish in his designsfor new builds and existing spaces; the Trust would defend such

designs because the quality achieved means that they will last.

The Trust is also content that this detailed approach to quality,

when extended to staff accommodation, was undertaken not to

gain advantage personally but to set standards that were inkeeping with other areas of development.

6. The Nature of the Accelerated Programme

a. The Trustees were also appreciative of the very short timescalesinvolved and the enormous amount of work required. The Priory

Federation (as well as the additional Ruskin Academy) was part of

an accelerated programme despite being a very complex structure:

seven predecessor sites, a new all-through academy that merged

three schools and three phases initially on three sites, a merger of

two schools into one academy (still not on one site). A number of

these predecessor schools were underperforming educationally

and were operating deficit budgets with very high staffing levels.

Predecessor schools were a mixture of governance structures

(Community, Maintained, VA). Each academy was to have three

Ofsted inspections in two years, the final inspection being a Section

5. There was enormous pressure to make the project work in a

short period of time.

b. The Trustees would like it noted that despite the scale of the

project, with over 800 staff involved, with serious overstaffing in anumber of areas, with Union antipathy to the project nationally,

and a declining economic climate, the Federation managed to

transfer staff to the Federation without union action and without

compulsory redundancy. They would also like it noted that there

is still a considerable amount of restructuring required and this is

being taken at the risk of the Federation and not the LA, which

would have been required to deal with the problems if the schools

had remained with the LA. The Trust would like it to be

acknowledged that the LA was very supportive throughout the

process of transfer.

7. From vision to reality

a. Part of Mr Gillilands role was to ensure that the vision for theenvironment was achieved. In effect, this involved creating fromnothing a sense of identity for the Academies, the French Centreand Laughton Manor, that was comparable to The Priory LSST.

This required a rapid and vast amount of investment in art,

sculptures, furniture, books, landscaping and a range of other

items that gave the buildings their character.


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8. Trustee concerns: financial systemsa. As stated in the introduction, from the Trustees perspective,

financial systems appeared to be working satisfactorily. From the

internal financial reports produced by the original FD, there were

no causes for concern and there were regular audits from external

accountants that gave further confidence. Indeed, the DfE/YPLAsown teams had worked with the Federations finance team and

their reports have provided further comfort, to the point that in

2011 the Federations judgement of its financial systems as

Outstanding was confirmed by the DfE.

9. Trustee concerns: poor financial record keeping

a. As also stated in the introduction to this report, the findings of theinvestigation team have, therefore, come as a shock. It appears

that a number of the transactions involved in this rapid investment

programme were made in a way that was not consistent with the

systems as laid out in the Finance Manual. It appears that despite

appearances that all was working well, Mr Gilliland and the FD

were not following the systems that would have offered them

greater protection when making so many transactions. Mr

Gilliland has explained that for best value it is often necessary to

buy art and furniture from craft markets where it is difficult to get

receipts. Systems, involving the photographing of these items,

were put in place but on reflection it would have been better if the

purchases been properly referenced and reported to the Trustees

on acquisition. Of greater concern is that one set of invoices linkedto Mr Gilliland has been changed and another set were for non-

Federation activities. The Trust is satisfied that this issue has been

addressed and monies have been repaid.

10.Trustee concerns: specific invoices

a. The Trustees are confused, upset and angered that Mr Gilliland hasput his reputation as one of the leading educationalists in the

county at risk with the way that he has made personal claims to

the Federation. They are heartened by his cooperation in repaying

monies (in the region of 12,000); understand fully, and

regretfully, that his position is untenable; and have taken legal

advice on an appropriate course of action.

11.Trustee concerns: the skills of the original FD

a. The Trustees accept that the original FD was not able to take theFederation forward and that the changes were made belatedly.

They, along with the EFA, have every confidence that the new FD

does have the ability to do so.


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12.Trustee concerns: the employment of family members

a. The Trustees understand that the employment of members of MrGillilands family was a continuation of a practice in place at thattime. The Trust agreed that family members should not be

discriminated against and it was against this backdrop that theiremployment was taken up.

b. The Trustees agree that the desire to appoint Kia Richardson (theson of the CEO) represents a serious error of judgement on behalf

of Mr Gilliland, having provided fallacious information to the

Trustees.

13.Trustees: conclusion

a. The Trust accepted the findings of the EFA in its meeting on 11thApril 2012 and is already working to put into place systems that

will prevent the Trust being put in this position ever again. It feels

let down by the CEO and the previous FD and has taken steps to

ensure that they have not gained advantage or benefit from their

actions.

b. It has worked closely with the EFA and wants the opportunity tofocus on the significant demands of running a complex

organisation that faces challenging circumstances.

c. The Trustees welcome the support of the DfE in providing anadditional Trust member and in helping to reduce the pressure on

the Trustees and the staff and students who are the innocent

bystanders in this affair.

d. The Trust is grateful to the senior team and all staff for its workduring this time. It appreciates that the Federation has been under

considerable pressure and enormous scrutiny for an extended

period of time and hopes that this prompt and thorough response,

that acknowledges the weaknesses in the previous management

style and expresses a genuine commitment to achieving the

highest possible standards of financial management (and is clearly

already on the way to this) will enable the Federation to continue

to develop.

e. The Trust is concerned about the press pressure on the publicationof the initial reportand the Trusts response. It recognises that therumours in the local area of a cover up are damaging; but also

states that this response has been genuinely contrite, detailed and

honest it was written as a report for one specific audience: theDfE.


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f. The Trust recognises that the EA investigation has found seriousweaknesses in adhering to the guidelines in the Finance Manual.

This can be (and is being) put right very quickly and the most

serious concerns are made very specifically about the actions of a

two of individuals who are no longer working for the organisation

and have paid the price of their actions both financially andpersonally.

Response from the Senior Team (I Jones, D McRae, A Madge, C Shepherd, P

Ryland, R Reeve, A Turner, J Willey)

1. Support for the Philosophy

a. The senior team has always been supportive of Mr Gillilandsphilosophy.

b. Much has been made of Mr Gillilands charismatic and forcefulleadership style, which meant that the decision making process, on

important issues of strategy, was often very rapid and potentially

without a full appreciation of the long term financial issues. This

was exacerbated by the accelerated nature of the programme, the

change in government and the political nature of the policy.

c. The decision to purchase the French Centre was made before theAcademies were opened; the decision to purchase LM was clearly

one that Mr Gilliland expected to be made as part of his overallstrategy for off-site provision. The successful bid for the boarding

house was made prior to the Federation. The plans for the new

sports centre were part of the development at The Priory LSST

agreed by the DfE as part of achieving Academy status. The

planetarium was a result of a successful bid to the Faraday Project

that the LA had asked The Priory LSST (the predecessor school) to

bid for because no other school in Lincolnshire had expressed an

interest to do so. The Alternative Provision Centre was originally

the Nexus Centre based at Joseph Ruston, it was then transferred

to the City School buildings when the Academy build project

started at Witham and then transferred to LM when the Academy

build started at the Lincoln Academy.

d. The FD provided the cash flow and budget projections for theseprojects.


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c. Recommendations:

1. Mr Gilliland

a. The Trust has accepted Mr Gillilands resignation with immediate

effect, without a compromise agreement or any additional orcompensatory payments of any kind.

b. Mr Gilliland has made repayments to the Federation for itemspurchased by the Federation that were raised as concerns by the

EA team. These were equestrian courses and associated

accommodation for his son as well as personal items that were

sent to him inappropriately at his work address. Repayments of

8,396 have been made with a further 2,862 invoiced for

repayment.

c. The Trusts legal advisors recommend against a legal redress as acriminal prosecution in these circumstances is unlikely and a civil

case would be disproportionate to the monetary value of the case

(see c.1.b above)

d. With Mr Gillilands immediate resignation, his loss of earnings anddiminished chances of future potential employment in Education,

the recovery of all claims against him, the high costs of litigation

both in terms of finance and reputation it is the Trustsrecommendation not to seek further legal redress.

2. Mr Davies

a. The delay in appointing an appropriately qualified andexperienced FD, once concerns about the incumbent had been

raised, was a serious failing and has led to weaknesses in the

financial management.

b. The recommendation is that the Federations FD and the Federations Accountant must have appropriate skills,

qualifications and experiences.

c. The Trust is confident that staff recently appointed to these postspossess the necessary attributes; but in order to future proofthese important posts a clear Job Description and Person

Specification are to be constructed and agreed with the EFA, and

can be reassessed annually along with other senior posts.

d. The Trust is taking legal advice to review the CompromiseAgreement with the previous FD and has currently stopped the

payment in the interim.


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e. Requests for any new Compromise Agreements are to be madedirectly to a Full Trust Meeting after comprehensive legal advice

has been taken and recorded.

3. Governance

a. A full review of the governance structures will be undertakenusing industry led Systems Analysis. The Trust has charged itself

with achieving highly effective systems that should be in place for

the successful governance of a chain of academies. This will

include considering setting up an Audit Committee, which would

operate at arms length from and inform the Executive Committeeto ensure appropriate checks and balances at the highest level.

b. Co-opt Trustees, where possible, with the following experience:e.g. Accounting and Legal - it is recognised that these Trustees

cannot be used for official advice and must not circumvent the

normal professional relationships that a Trust would reasonably

develop.

c. The Trust would like to request a DfE representative Trustee.

d. Until a new structure is introduced, any changes to an existingpolicy (or the introduction of a new policy) must be presented in

draft form at a Trusts Executive meeting and then sent to the Full

Trust in advance of a meeting in order that it can be included as an

agenda item at the meeting.

e. We would expect that all policies be implemented for a September2012 start.

4. Use of Credit Cards

a. The Federation will have one credit card and the Academies willhave one card each. They will all be held by the Finance Director.

No other cards will be issued, and cards currently in use will be

withdrawn.

b. The use of cash advances being obtained from credit cards hasbeen stopped with immediate effect. Any member of staff who

makes cash advances, for any reason, will be subject to a

disciplinary action.

c. A new request form is available for any member of staff who wantsthe FD to use the Credit Card on their behalf. This form requires a

thorough audit trail. Guidance on what is acceptable to purchase

on a credit card is given as advice on the new form.


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d. The FD will countersign the Credit Card statement to ensure thateverything is correct and properly supported and documented.

5. Employment of family members

a. The Trust accepts the main premise of the Trustee Report on theemployment of staff, which focused on the difficulties of recruiting

to the Lincolnshire area. The Trust concurs that under these

conditions it is often necessary to recruit without advertising the

post formally as is the case in many schools.

b. The Trust also accepts the YPLAs view that there are publicperception issues when close family members of either the

Federations senior staff or Trustees are employed and that theemployment of Mr Gillilands close family members has caused

considerable ill feeling amongst staff and other stakeholders.

c. In future, therefore, if a close family member of either the seniorstaff or the Trustees is applying for a post in the Federation:

i. the post must be clearly identified in the Federationsstaffing structure and an appropriate pay grade identified

ii. the post must be advertised beyond the Federationiii. all applicants must complete the section in the Application

Form: Do you have any family connection with any member

of staff within the Federation or a Trustee of the Federation?

If so, please explain.

iv. there must be a shortlist (ideally of at least three)

candidates called to interviewv. the Trust is considering adding an additional stage to the

recruitment process if family members of either the senior

staff or Trustees are applicants. The Trust is concerned

that adding an additional stage may be against best policy

but would like it discussed at a Trustee meeting.

Alternatively - there must be a very robust policy that fits

any situation. The suggestion is as below:

there must be a HR expert, independent of the

Federation, on the interview panel who must be able to

report to the Trust formally at the end of the process

that the selection procedures were completed properly

and if any impropriety were detected then the interview

process would be declared invalid.

d. This process will be written into a recruitment policy in a way thatrecognises the issues but does not discriminate against family

members. The Trustees will agree on a definition of close family

member and senior staff after taking legal advice.


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6. Trustee/Federation staff expenses

a. There was some confusion over expenses due to the format of theoriginal expenses claim form that included travel, subsistence and

purchases. This inflated accidentally and significantly the

disclosures made in the audited accounts relating to expensesclaimed by Trustees and the CEO. This form has now been

redesigned into a Travel and Expense form and a Purchase form.

b. On too many occasions, expense claims were not completedproperly. The CEO has explained that this was, in part, due to the

number of pieces of art and furniture purchased for cash at craft

markets. The Trustees are satisfied that this practice was stopped

immediately when raised as a concern by the EA team.

c. No expenses claims will be paid on the new forms unless they arecompleted in their entirety and have full sets of receipts attached

to them. Partially completed forms will not receive payment.

d. The Federation finance team will check all claims to ensure thatthere are no duplicate claims and the external auditors will sign off

these checks.

e. Credit Card checks are also to be signed off by the externalauditors as part of their annual audit.

f. Any claims made by the CEO or the FD are to be approved formally

and recorded in the minutes by the Trust Executive committee.

7. Petty Cash

a. Petty cash systems are now in place to ensure that cash advancesare only obtainable from petty cash and that receipts are required

for all purchases.

8. Purchasing, Control and Safeguarding of Art Assets

a. A separate Art Assets inventory is being developed for the Art heldon each of the sites. The Art Assets inventory will incorporate a

photograph of the artwork/asset together with details of the year

of acquisition, location, original cost (if known), date of disposal

and disposal proceeds. The inventory will also allow for physical

verification of the assets to be confirmed on an ad-hoc basis.

9. Use of the French Centre by Trustees/Federation Staff

a. After investigating alternatives, the Trust has evidence that the useof its own staff and Trustees is the most cost effective way of

caretaking the French Centre in the absence of the French Centrestaff.


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b. It understands, however, that there is a public perception issue iffamily members accompany staff and Trustees and that this public

perception issue is of greater significance than the actual

caretaking issue.

c. The Trust will, therefore, issue a new policy relating to thecaretaking of the French Centre that incorporates the use of

alternative solutions to Trustee/Federation staff.

d. The Trust will identify clearly the Caretaking duties required.

10.Procurement

a. All Federation staff that have responsibility for procurement willundertake appropriate training on the latest procurement

directives.

b. This training will be undertaken annually, be delivered by expertsin the field and attendance and feedback recorded at a Full Trust

meeting.

c. A full audit trail of all appropriate documentation relating to aprocurement decision is to be kept by the Federation for six years.

d. All procurement protocols will be in accordance with EU

conformance.

e. All projects in the future will be given meaningful timescales andwill not be part of an accelerated programme that reduces the

flexibilities for project managers.


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Annexe a: The Development of The Priory Federation of Academies: a document

on the Federation website to explain the context of the funding issues


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The Development of the Priory Federation of Academies

The Lincoln School of Science and Technology (LSST), subsequently The PrioryLSST, was founded in 1992. At that time the intention was to create the sixteenthCity Technology College (CTC) in Lincoln. The business community of Lincoln,which was sponsoring the initiative, became increasingly concerned about thedifficulties existing CTC's were experiencing with their local communities, and inparticular local schools. Consequently, instead of a CTC a "partnership" school wascreated. The school was a joint venture between the business community (LincolnBusiness and Enterprise Trust) and the Local Authority. The specific remit was toprovide a specialist school (Science and Technology) for Lincoln and the surroundingarea, in other words, it was not intended as a replacement for the mixedcomprehensive which had existed some years before on the site. The admissionspolicy reflects this aspiration. The vast majority of children come from the nominated48 partner schools identified in the admissions policy. This "specialist" approach wasthe forerunner of the specialist schools programme which then developed throughoutthe UK, until now most secondary schools have at least one specialism.

The site chosen for LSST had previously been a Girls' Grammar School which hadbecome a mixed comprehensive and then closed due to falling rolls. The new schoolopened in 1992 with 136 pupils in Year 7 (11 year olds). The student population builtup year by year, with the first sixth form joining the school in 1997. When LSSTopted out as did the majority of Lincolns Secondary Schools, the ownership of thesite then fell to the Governors, as with all GM schools.

As part of the initial plan for LSST the LEA had committed itself to providing fundingto provide facilities for the sixth form when it reached that stage of its development(September 1997). With the change to GM status that funding now had to comedirectly from the FAS (Funding Agency for School). In parallel with these

developments British Gas decided to sell its administrative centre immediatelyadjacent to the existing site. The Governors asked the FAS to consider purchasingthis centre instead of building on the existing site. The FAS concluded that the askingprice (550,000) represented exceptionally good value for money and provided thefunds to buy the centre with the costs of refurbishment being met from the remainderof the 720,000 allocated to the build.

As the school continued to grow due to huge demand, reaching its current level of+1750, of which +450 are in the sixth form, the Governors continued to developbuildings from within the school's own resources. No money was provided by theLEA or Central Government for any of the new builds that took place from 1997 to2008. These included a Sports Pavilion, for which the LEA did provide a loan (at

interest, which has now been totally repaid), a swimming pool (training only not fullsize), a Chapel, an RE block, a History block, a Geography block and a Music block.Throughout these years the Governors consistently asked the LEA for help inmeeting the schools building needs but help was not available as the LEA believedthat it had higher priorities elsewhere in the County. At one point, the then Director ofEducation visited the school to meet Governors and examine the facilities for herself.She concurred with the Governors that not only was the school short ofaccommodation but that significant areas were "not fit for purpose". The purchase ofthe Gas Board site, while providing valuable space, had not provided fit for purposeaccommodation". In particular the school desperately needed science facilities aseven prep rooms were being utilised for teaching "A" level groups.


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The Faraday Project (Newton Centre)

In 2006 an LEA adviser rang the school to ascertain whether we would be interestedin putting in a bid for a Faraday Project". This was a national initiative in which theGovernment nominated a certain number of LAs who, in turn, could put forward oneschool from the County to take part in a competitive process for a matched fundingproject. The successful bidders would provide half of the total cost of the projectthemselves. The aim of the programme was to provide capital funding for innovativeand stimulating projects aimed at raising the profile of science in the school and area.No revenue funding was, or would be, available on completion of the project.

The adviser telephoned on a Thursday afternoon to ascertain our interest. He wasvery honest and told us we were being asked as no other LEA community School orScience Specialist School was interested in bidding. We were also given the newsthat if we did wish to bid we had to prepare an outline bid by noon the following day.If the school was then approved as the County's nominee we had to be prepared togive a full presentation on a competitive basis in London three days later. Despite the

time frame we put together a bid that was both innovative and exciting. It caught theimagination of the DFE and we were successful. The result is the Newton Centrewhich opened last month. Already it is proving its worth and both our own studentsand pupils from other schools that have visited have been excited and enthused bythe facility. As well as providing much needed state of the art labs, the NewtonCentre includes a debating chamber and an immersive theatre (planetarium). ThePriory Academy LSST is currently one of two "Space Hub Schools" that work closelywith the National Space Centre in Leicester. When the school was successful in itsFaraday bid we were then subsequently successful in proposing to the NationalSpace Centre that we became closely linked to them. The Space Centre staffbelieve that the project will prove of incalculable value in stimulating interest inscience in general and physics and astrophysics in particular.

The matched funding element of the cost came from the school's own budget. TheFaraday project is not part of the Academies programme at all, it was a totallyseparate initiative, not related to schools that were or about to become Academies.All of the building programmes up to 2008 when The Priory LSST became anAcademy were funded from within its own budget. We were able to do this by beingparticularly vigilant in the management of our funds. Our staffing levels have alwaysreflected excellent value for money and the percentage of budget used on staffing atLSST was consistently around or below 80%, the level recommended by the AuditCommission. We have always sought to appoint the best possible staff, whodemonstrate both high levels of skill and personal commitment. This has resulted invery low levels of absenteeism and turnover which, in its turn, has saved money and

contributed to our financial stability.

As an organisation, we have always made value for money a high priority, and thishas proved to be the basis of our ability to undertake self funded developmentprogrammes. Contrary to misconceptions in some quarters, The Priory LSST andnow The Priory Federation of Academies has never received more funding thanother schools. Indeed any analysis of LEA records show that The Priory LSST wasalways one of the lowest funded schools on a per capita basis in the County. Onoccasion it has been the lowest funded school on the LEA's funding ladder. We havebeen very successful in keeping maintenance costs low. We spend virtually nothingon repairs or replacement of equipment due to vandalism or general damage causedthrough carelessness. We spend absolutely minimal amounts on things such asbroken windows or replacing broken furniture. The life span of equipment is well


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above national averages. The savings are not accidental instead they are a result ofa carefully thought out policy that we call The Priory Way.

The Priory Way

We believe that the extremely low levels of damage, low levels of absenteeism etcare the result of the ethos which we have created, initially at The Priory LSST andsubsequently in our other Academies. From 1997 onwards, the Governors embarkedon a programme to enhance and enrich the physical environment of the school. Wewere, and are still, convinced that the right physical environment creates the learningclimate that enables young people and staff to achieve their full potential.Consequently our design decisions have been made deliberately to bring out thebest in our pupils, for example, over the years we have created a garden for everyyear group. The idea is that if a pupil/student wishes to stay with their own yeargroup at lunchtimes, breaks, before and after school they can go to their own garden.Only pupils from that year group are allowed in. If students want to meet friends from

other year groups they go to areas we call quads. If they wish to play they go to theplaygrounds. Much of what we do is aimed at making the pupils feel included andtreated as human being. Therefore, for example, we do not have bells, we do nothave rules barring our students and pupils from the buildings at breaks or lunchtimes, so if they wish to be inside rather than outside they can do so. Our philosophyis that the pupils and students are part of The Priory. We want them to feel, and be,part of the school, we want them to feel, and know, they are valued. Most of all wewant them to feel and be personally responsible for themselves and to each other aspart of The Priory. Consequently our students and pupils value their school and itsenvironment and take pride in it. Furthermore, we have enhanced the gardens by asculpture programme, mainly through Loughborough University, but also using FairTrade opportunities and local artists. We also consciously celebrate our own

students' achievements, particularly in Art. All of the paintings around the school arestudents work. Following a recent Ofsted inspection the HMI (Her MajestysInspector) returned specifically to look at the Art and the Arts in The Priory andconcluded that they had never come across a school where Art and the Arts were sofully integrated into the life of the school.

We also believe in the value of ceremony and ritual in creating a sense of belonging.Following requests from students themselves for a "quiet space" we built a Chapel,which is literally and figuratively at the heart of the school. Outside we have a copy ofthe labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral. All of our new students "walk the labyrinth" ontheir first day before going in to the Chapel to sign "The Priory Book" to become aPriory student. This is repeated on their very last day in the school and then they

"sign out". (The story from the Medieval period is that if you were unable to go on apilgrimage to renew yourself you could walk a labyrinth instead). Visitors to theschool are often invited to walk the labyrinth (261 metres). We have similar rituals inall our academies. At the City of Lincoln it involves going to the Urn to sign the book,at Witham going through the Arch and at Ruskin it is leaving your aspirations at theTree.

As part of our drive to create our own special ethos we acquired an outward boundstyle centre in Yorkshire. All Year Seven pupils went there in their first term for aprogramme of activities. Other groups from all year groups went for subject specifictrips. The centre proved to be a powerful tool in helping pupils who came from over50 different primary schools to bond and settle into "The Priory Way". This facility hadto be sold due to the fact that we were unable to develop it in the way we had hoped.Nonetheless pupils, students, parents, staff and Governors all regretted its loss and


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its replacement became a high priority for the school and indeed this is the basis forthe decision to purchase the Centre des Etoiles which is explained in more detailfurther on.

Expanding Influence

In August 2006, The Priory LSST was named as the highest achieving non-selectiveschool in England. By this time the school was hugely popular with parents andheavily oversubscribed and had been judged "outstanding" in every Ofstedinspection. This was all achieved without any additional funding or support other thanthat available to any school. It is, perhaps, the greatest testament to theeffectiveness of The Priory Way.

In February 2006, an official from the DFE approached the Headmaster to enquirewhether he would be willing to take on the role of Executive Headmaster of anotherlocal school, The Joseph Ruston Technology College (JRTC). The DFE and the LEA

believed the school needed support, and indeed the results in August 2006 only 17%gained 5+A-C. They determined that if the school did not achieve a minimum of 30%achieving 5+ A-C grades in 2007 then the school would have to close. TheHeadmaster indicated to the Chair of Governors that he would be willing to take onthe challenge if The Priory Governors were minded to fully support the venture.Discussions with the Board were lengthy and in depth. Some Governors notunnaturally were concerned about the close links being proposed which included aloose federation and the sharing of senior staff and Governors. No incentiveswhatever were offered to The Priory LSST to take on the challenge which, given theavailable data, was daunting in the extreme. Nonetheless, the Governors concludedthat we did have something to offer and that we did have the capacity to both supporta school in challenging circumstances and maintain our LSST success rate.

Moreover, and this was the deciding factor, the Governors believed we had a duty tohelp if we could and by taking on the challenge we would show that we really didbelieve that "Every Child Matters".

Having agreed to take on the challenge, Senior Staff began working with theGovernors of JRTC, LEA and DFE on a strategy for the immediate future. TheHeadmaster of The Priory was appointed Executive Headmaster of the loosefederation on May 10th 2006 with a remit to take over in September 2006. In 2007the school achieved 74%, in 2008 99%, in 2009 100% and in 2010 100% (notincluding English and Maths). In those years the confidence The Priory Governorshad that standards could be maintained at the Priory LSST proved well founded.

The Executive Headmaster was asked to prepare a report with recommendations forthe medium and long term future of JRTC. He concluded that the school was notviable in its present format but that it was an essential element of the community. Herecommended therefore, that the LEA should consider applying for the school to belinked to the nearby Infant and Junior Schools (Moorland and Usher) with a view tothe three schools becoming an all through Academy.

The Development of the Academy programme.

At this time, JRTC was second on the LEA's priority list for a complete demolition andrebuild. This fact, coupled with the Headmaster's recommendation, persuaded theLEA to investigate the possibility of Academy status. In parallel with this decision, twofurther developments occurred. Firstly, Lord Adonis, the School's Minister, visited


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Lincolnshire, including The Priory LSST. During the visit the possibility of The Priorybecoming a "lead" Academy in a "Hard Federation" with the proposed new Academywas mooted. Secondly, one of the Deputy Headmasters of The Priory LSST hadbeen recently appointed Headmaster of another local school, The City of LincolnCommunity College (City School). Links had grown between the two schoolsincluding linking timetables so that students from City School could access coursesat the much larger sixth form at The Priory LSST (e.g. Law, Archaeology,Psychology, Computer courses etc).

At this time, City School was number one on the LEA's priority list for completerebuild. These factors combined to persuade the Governors of The City of Lincoln toactively seek federation with The Priory. They approached The Priory to ask if itcould be included in the bid currently being produced on behalf of The Priory LSSTand JRTC. The Governors of City School believed that given The Priory's trackrecord of working with other schools, this solution was their preferred option.Following further debate between all concerned including the LEA the decision wastaken to amend the prepared initial expression of interest to include The City of

Lincoln. This expression of interest was accepted by the DFE and we proceeded tothe formal consultation stage based on a Hard Federation of three Academies to benamed The Priory Academy LSST, The Priory Witham Academy and the Priory Cityof Lincoln Academy. These three Academies were made up of the former PrioryLSST, Moorland Infant School, Usher Junior School and JRTC and the City ofLincoln Community College.

The proposal contained in the Expression of Interest documents was fully consultedupon and the results of the consultation were very positively in favour of developingthe Federation and the new Academies. The DFE accepted the bids and allocated26.29 million for the complete re-build of the City of Lincoln Community College, forthe build of the new Witham Academy 24,366,000 with the LEA providing the

primary element, the assumption being that this money would be recouped from thesale of the junior and infant school sites, and 6.33 million to bring The Priory LSSTup to Academy standards.

At this point (August 2011), the building of The Witham Academy has beencompleted for a September opening and within budget. The first phase of TheLincoln Academy build has been completed on time and within budget and thesecond phase is due to be completed on time and in budget by September 2012.The current work on the Priory Academy LSST Sports Hall and Dining Facilities is onschedule to be completed on time and within budget for this September.

Boarding

Totally separate from the developments funded as part of the Academiesprogramme, The Priory Academy LSST submitted a bid for a grant to develop aBoarding facility. The Priory Academy LSST and two other Academies weresuccessful in gaining funding (Harefield Academy and Wellington Academy). Otherstate boarding schools benefited from extensive capital funding at this time, forrenovation of existing facilities. The Priory's bid emphasised a number of featuresthat are specific to the school and to Lincolnshire.

1. The Priory Academy LSST is less than five miles from RAF Waddington, thelargest operational base in England. A number of service personnel, as wellas current parents expressed concern that although the RAF was usuallywilling to keep staff posted at Waddington until the end of their child's


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compulsory schooling they were not able to do this for those who wanted tocontinue into the sixth form. Many of our students do desperately want toremain at The Priory for their sixth form and the option of staying as boarderswas one which they welcomed. Indications from the station are that one of thereasons often quoted for the popularity of Waddington as a posting of choiceis the desire to secure a place at The Priory although there is no guarantee ofa place. We have built strong links with the services and indeed The Prioryhas its own Combined Cadet Force (CCF) as now do all our Academies.

2. Lincolnshire is a rural county and the large number of small costly sixth formsmeans that many students cannot access the full range of courses they wantor need. In particular, The Priory is unique in Lincolnshire in being a fullCISCO Academy and as such these highly technical courses are onlyavailable here. A further factor in our thinking was the need to provide forsome looked after children who often find it difficult to progress into sixthforms, the boarding option gives greater opportunity for those children. Theboarding house will open in September 2012. As DFE rules stipulate that

charges can only be made for boarding at cost (no profit is permitted) andtuition is free, we believe the fees of approximately 10,000 per yearrepresents excellent value for money and is below average for state boardingas well as independent schools.

Centre des Etoiles

As referred to earlier, the Governors, staff, pupils and parents of The Priory LSSThad always regretted the loss of its centre in Yorkshire and we were increasinglyconcerned about the rising costs of foreign travel for students which we consideredto be an essential part of a pupil's school experience. The Academies programme

gave us the opportunity not only to get back a prized facility, but also to expand itsscope to include the most cost effective way of offering the chance to experienceforeign travel to every Year Seven child, as well as provide cost effective subjectspecific trips. The Centre des Etoiles was purchased at a cost of 496,382 and partfunded by the sale of the previous centre and this represented truly exceptional valuefor money.

The Year Seven trip is essentially about French life and culture as well as helpingpupils who come from so many different schools, and hence backgrounds, to bond,develop a sense of belonging and learn about life in The Priory Federation. Thefeedback from students and staff is universally positive and comments such as "Thishas been the best week of my life", or "this trip has really changed my life" are not

uncommon. We have no doubt that these kinds of activities have great value inhelping our students make the most of their time with us. It is a very practical way ofhelping young people understand the world around them, learn to mix and work withothers, including pupils not from their own country. The centre is used every singleweek of the school year excluding two weeks in January which cannot be used dueto weather. In the school holidays it is often used for Cadet trips, Sports courses,University preparation courses or intervention courses for GCSE Maths and English.The University preparation courses are in our view particularly important. One courseis aimed at potential first generation university students, and another is aimed atwidening access to Oxbridge. On the few weeks when it is not being used directly forstudents we utilise it for staff training purposes. All Federation staff must do theECDL (European Computer Driving Licence) in the first two years, and a basic firstaid course in the first year. Using the centre for those staff who prefer an intensiveresidential programme cuts our costs and minimises disruption to children and staff


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alike.

Since it opened in September 2009 nearly 2000 students and pupils have visited, notonly providing students with invaluable opportunities but ensuring the financialviability of the facility.

Laughton and the Nexus Centre

When we became a Federation in 2008 we entered into an agreement with the LEAto adopt a non permanent exclusion policy. This meant that not only did we commitourselves not to permanently exclude any child, we committed ourselves toaddressing those issues that had led to the possibility of a young person beingthrown out of school. We agreed not to access any of the LEA's EBSS provision(Education Behaviour Support Service) in return for a pump priming grant for threeyears of 120,000 per year. When it is remembered that each excluded child cancost more than 200 per day to manage and a great deal more if outside County

support is required, it can be seen that once again our approach working with theLEA was extremely cost effective and directly benefited other schools in the area byfreeing up provision that otherwise would have been utilised by schools in theFederation.

With the pilot funding we set up and staffed the Nexus Centre. This was an"alternative curriculum" approach aimed at providing a different approach toteaching, allied to a work related programme planned with LAGAT (a local trainingorganisation). This general approach proved to be very successful in meeting theneeds of some students. Unfortunately, the building used as the base, and thesubsequent one used, both had to be demolished as part of the Academies newbuild projects. The Trust investigated a number of options to replace the Nexus

Centre and with the addition of The Ruskin Academy to the Federation in 2010 (asmore fully discussed below) we took the opportunity to re-assess what we needed.We had become convinced that the alternative curriculum, including very specificvocational courses, was actually a much more relevant path for a significant numberof students. We acquired the Laughton Centre as our alternative curriculum base fora cost of 1,700,000 and have begun work on an additional teaching block.

From September onwards when the Centre will be fully operational, in addition toproviding vocational courses related to the equestrian industry such as yardmanagement, horse care, riding etc., we will offer courses in construction, motorvehicle maintenance, horticulture, catering, practical business and groundsmaintenance. As the build at The Ruskin Academy proceeds, we will also use the

Centre to provide additional capacity for students as use of the existing schoolbuildings become restricted over the two years it will take to build the new school.We hope that ultimately the Centre may become a School in its own right.The Centre has been used in the summer term for our Nexus students and also forvarious groups to "meet the horses". Recently, groups of Year Five pupils visited tocamp and meet the horses and this has proved so popular that we are now offeringthe opportunity to other primary schools in Lincolnshire. We are also using thefacilities for summer holiday activities to maximise use of facilities and give evenmore children the opportunity to experience rural activities. The Centre will be thebase for all the Academies Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme activities and we will offer the facilities to other schools doing D of E. Our purchase represents excellentvalue for money and everyone who visits is impressed by the current facilities as wellas excited about the potential for the future.


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The Ruskin Academy

In 2009, the LEA had once again approached The Priory Federation. It hadconcluded that two schools in Grantham (Central School and Church School) were in

need of support. The LEA's conclusion was that the two schools needed toamalgamate and transfer to Academy status in order to achieve funding for acomplete re-build. The Priory Federation was asked to "bid" to become the preferredsponsor. Other sponsors had been considered. The Trustees discussed the matterand on this occasion decided that this was a project we might wish to be involved in.We believed that the relative proximity of Grantham would make the project viable.

The Priory Federation was given preferred sponsor status and we began workingwith the LEA on this accelerated programme. The consultation process resulted in avery positive response and after the normal formalities a "funding envelope" wassecured. Before final ratification of the funding was complete the election intervened.The Trust, LEA and local politicians worked very hard to make the case to the

Government throughout the summer holiday period to continue the project and torelease the funding. This combined effort proved successful and The Trust securedjust over 13 million to build the new Ruskin Academy. Currently we are working withthe LEA, who are procurers, and going through the processes that will identify thesuccessful company that will design and build the new school. As with the otherbuilds the LEA will hold the funds and administer the payment of all contracts. Uponcompletion the LEA will own the land and buildings of the new academy, thusacquiring further real estate. By the end of this programme the LEA will haveregained the ownership of lands and buildings from The Priory LSST, JRTC, TheCentral and Church schools. All of these schools, prior to becoming academies, wereowned either by the Governing Bodies of those schools or the diocese. (Usher,Moorland, the junior and infant schools and City of Lincoln had remained under LEA

ownership prior to becoming academies.)

Value for money

We would emphasise that The Federation (as The Priory LSST before) has receivedno more funding either in capital programmes or in revenue than is normal in otherparts of the county and country. We believe passionately that the way to help youngpeople achieve their full potential is to enhance and enrich their educationalopportunities. To do this we believe schools must be innovative and be prepared toput in the effort to secure whatever resources are made available from whateversource. This, in our view, is a duty of school leadership in every school. The Trustsees its role as being in large part about making up the deficit in experience,aspiration and opportunities which confront so many of our young people today. Byensuring that they can access all those wider aspects of life that truly prepare youngpeople, the opportunity to experience pleasant and civilising environments (forexample formal dinners and events), we are giving them the best chance to competein today's world. The following anecdote might highlight the reasons for ourdetermination. The day after we had refurbished the dining facilities at JRTC, one ofthe first students to come in to the new dining room said to the dinner lady on duty"This is too good for us" but by showing the student that we believe that he deservesa pleasant environment we help him to believe in himself, to value himself and tovalue the education he receives.

We are proud of our examination successes in all our academies, but we are equallyproud of our record in dealing with challenging students, in raising expectations and


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aspirations and in our practical commitment to the integration of students withdisabilities into mainstream education. Every Child Matters is not, for us, a triteslogan, it is the basic value upon which we build our programmes and take ourdecisions. Everything we do is based on that simple concept. We believe that notonly is our approach educationally effective, it is cost effective. Increasing numbersof visitors come to view what we have done, seek advice and take away ideas fortheir own programmes. A recent example was the senior team and the SchoolCouncil of a school in a neighbouring county. Their school had been totally rebuilt yetthey were experiencing an increase in vandalism and disaffection amongst thestudents. The School Council members having visited The Priory asked why it felt so"right" while their own school felt "nasty".

The discussions that followed were very revealing for their senior staff. The PrioryAcademy LSST is an exemplar/advocacy school for NET (National Education Trust)and indeed hosted a conference specifically on the role of the environment in raisingstandards. A group of Priory students volunteered to address the conference andexplain and answer questions on what their school meant to them. The totally

unrehearsed or coached comments convinced us all even more that what we doworks. Recently when the local MP visited our newest Academy in Grantham, heasked some students what was the point of all of these changes (to the environment,uniform etc.) he later reported that they answered "it makes us feel good aboutourselves".

Future

Our future plans involve the development of two 50 place DSU's (Designated SpecialUnit) for primary aged children based at The Witham Academy and one forSecondary aged children based at The Lincoln Academy. The Trust believes thatparents of children with specific learning or physical disabilities, and the children

themselves, should have the choice of being taught in a mainstream school as analternative to a Special School, if they so wish. We believe we can offer an integratedapproach which will not only meet the individual needs of students but provide themwith the environment that will enable them to take their place in the world. Thisapproach is very much in keeping with all that we stand for and is in our view anotherexample of our commitment to the principle that Every Child Matters.


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Annexe b: Letter of response to Look North after questions were raised last year

about funding.


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The Priory Federation of Academies.

Statement:

There are currently three separate capital projects being undertaken on ThePriory Academy LSST site. It is not by design that these three projects are

ongoing at the same time. The Faraday project should have been completed over

a year ago.

The Faraday Centre

In 2006 the Local Authority approached a number of schools in Lincolnshire to

ask them to bid for the Faraday matched funds grant from the DfE. The money

would be used to build specialist science facilities. All of the schools contacted by

the LA declined to make a bid. On the day before the deadline for the bids, the LA

contacted The Priory and asked if it would be interested. The Priory said yes and

by close of play the next day had prepared and submitted a bid. The bid was

successful. The project spent a significant amount of time in preparation and

planning and work on the build was, therefore, started late. It is a pure

coincidence that the Faraday build is going on at the same time as the other

builds.

The Faraday Centre will provide a wonderful science facility for the students at

The Priory, for students from other schools and for members of the local

community. We are linked in this project with the National Space Centre, we

have become a Space Hub for the region and employ a Lead Teacher who is

seconded to the Space Centre. Being a Space Hub means that we have aresponsibility to organise training and workshops for students in the

Lincolnshire area, again demonstrating a commitment to the local community.

The Sports Centre

The existing sports facilities are poor. If The Priory had not become an Academy

then it would have been asking the Local Authority for its support to improve the

facilities, which are too small for the size of school and the range of courses that

it puts on. As part of The Priorys transition to Academy status it was required to

establish areas of need for capital development. Obviously, the sports facilities

were its priority, and the DfEs Academies Section granted financial support forthe building of a new sports facility, which will benefit Priory students, students

from other schools and a range of community sports clubs.

Boarding Facility.

The Priory submitted to the DfE a bid for a grant to develop a Boarding facility.

The Priory and two other Academies were successful in gaining funding

(Harefield Academy and Wellington Academy). Other state Boarding Schools

benefitted from extensive capital funding, at this time, for renovation of existing

facilities.

The Priorys bid emphasised a number of features that are specific to The Prioryand to Lincolnshire:


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The Priory is eight miles away from RAF Waddington, one of the largest

RAF bases in the country. A number of service personnel expressed

concern that although the RAF was usually able to keep staff posted at

Waddington for the duration of their childs compulsory schooling, theywould not continue this through to the Sixth Form. Many students had

become very attached to the school and would have stayed as boardersrather than start a new sixth form in another part of the country.

Lincolnshire is a rural county with many very small schools with small

sixth forms (both very costly). These sixth forms are unable to put on an

appropriate range of courses. The Priory Sixth Form, therefore, has

students travelling considerable distances to access specialist courses.

Indeed, some students have actually made arrangements to stay in bed

and breakfast accommodation close to the school. Courses on offer

include CISCO (The Priory is a Cisco and a Microsoft Academy)

Archaeology, Law, Computing, Further Maths, etc.. With current funding

issues for small sixth forms, it is likely that there will be even moredemand.

It is worth pointing out that these projects are the only capital projects that have

been funded from external sources since the school was opened and that The

Priory was one of the countys lowest funded schools per student funding. So

there is genuine confusion as to why these projects have attracted attention in

this way, particularly when the county has embarked on an Academies project

programme and it has also enabled a significant number of schools in Lincoln to

benefit from large capital developments. The Priory has declared a potential

interest in developing riding stables for a small number of horses (The Echo

claimed, in error, that this was a multi-million pound project it is not). Ridingis a popular sport for many of our students, and there are many others who

could not afford to go horse riding independently. There are already significant

numbers of students going out to stables as part of their course and this is quite

expensive. So there has been some talk about the stables wood built but it isnot necessarily a current priority and is certainly not multi-million in scale.

The Priory Academies programme in Lincoln is based on two other

comprehensive schools that were in position 1 and 2 on the list for schools

needed to be rebuilt in the BSF programme. The fact that they became

academies has meant that Lincolnshire was able to turn its attention to other

schools to support. The move to Academy status for these projects was with LA

support and there were positive public consultation meetings, in stark contrast

to some of the meetings that have been held in other projects.

In conclusion, every Ofsted Inspection has judged The Priory as providing

outstanding value for money. When receiving its budget from the LA, it was one

of the lowest per pupil funded schools in the county. The mechanisms for

funding academies are transparent. The Priory has worked hard to bid for

additional funds and to achieve value for money. Many other schools in the area

have attracted substantial additional funds but have not attracted public

attention which is an area of confusion.


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Annexe c: Findings


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DfE: all entries below are taken from a DfE report marked Protect. This

report is the property of the YPLA

Response

Section 15:

a. Payment of equine related NVQ at West Bridgeford Equestrian Centre

for Mr Gillilands son in 2010 when not an employee of the Federation.

b. Payment of equine related training and residential costs for a courserun by Equine Energy held at Writtle College for Mr Gillilands son in

2010 when not an employee of the Federation.

c. Payment of tax advice special fees relating to Mr Gillilands personal tax

issue.

d. Personal purchases using Federation credit cards.

e. Inappropriate nature of personal purchases using the Federation credit

card and delivered to the Federation address.

f. Use of a flat at the Manor House, Laughton Manor as a residential

property and the costs in refurbishing this.

g. The Federation may have paid removal costs in relation to the move

to/from the Manor House, Laughton Manor.

Section 15:

a. Mr Gilliland has repaid to the Federation the expenses

claimed for equestrian training at The West Bridgeford

Equestrian Centre.

b. Mr Gilliland has been invoiced the costs of the EquineEnergy course and residential fees.

c. Mr Gilliland has been invoiced for the tax advice that he

received from Buzzacott

d/e. Mr Gilliland has reimbursed the Federation for the cost

of the personal items purchased on the Federation Credit

Card.

f. Mr Gilliland did use the flat as a residential property for a

short period, the benefits of refurbishment remain with the

Federation. The Trust is assessing the benefits of residence

and will approach the appropriate agencies once an initialassessment has been made.

g. The Federation did not pay the costs of Mr Gillilands

removal.


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h. Establishment of a private apartment at French Centre and the costs of

refurbishing.

i. Use of the French Centre by family members for activities not related to

Federation business.

j. Purchase of Federation laptops.

16. In May 2010 Mr Gilliland claimed expenses of 2,480 related to three

invoices for attendance at the West Bridgford Equestrian Centre. Mr

Gilliland stated that these were for students from the Ruskin and other

academies attending alternative curriculum activities. The three invoices

that we extracted from the accounting records showed the dates of

training and amounts due. These did not match the three invoices we

were in possession of. The invoices we held stated that the training was

for Mr Gillilands son, Kia (Keir) Gilliland. All other information on theinvoices was identical to the invoices submitted by Mr Gilliland with his

claim.

17. Mr Gilliland confirmed his son undertook training at West Bridgford

but claimed he paid for the training. He was unable to offer an

h. see f

i. The use of the French Centre by family members is now

subject to a new draft policy of Cover for the French Centre,

which is to be presented to Trustees in the near future (draft

available). Mrs Gillilands Dance Group trip income was

incorrectly paid into the Priory Fundraising Trust, which hasnow been transferred to the Federation account

j. Mr Gilliland purchased two laptops from the Federation

using a depreciation formula established by the Head of ICT

and the FD.

16&17: The FD authorised the transactions outside the

procedures laid out in the Finance Manual. All claims made

by the FD and the CEO must now be made at an Executive

Committee Meeting and recorded in the minutes. The RO

will audit these claims on a regular basis. All RO reports will

be sent to the Trustees and form the basis of an agenda item

at a Full Trust Meeting.


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explanation as to why the invoices were exactly the same as those that

related to his sons training apart from the reference to his son. He stated

he would look into the matter.

18. A payment was made by the Federation in January 2010 to Equine

Energy Ltd for 1,095. No invoice was held in the accounting records to

support what this payment related to but it was accounted under

equestrian which is why we identified it. Mr Gilliland stated that this

was a training course for his son that he agreed with the Finance Director(FD) could be paid from his life insurance entitlement of 2,000 per

year. Mr Gilliland explained as part of his contract the Federation agreed

to pay his life insurance. As Mr Gilliland already had life insurance he

had agreed with the FD and the Chair that he could spend up to 2,000

per year on personal items. The Equine Energy training was paid for out

of this allowance.

19. Credit card statements for Mr Gilliland and the FD contained

payments to Writtle College for 234.04 and 29.38. Mr Gilliland stated

that the payment on his card to Writtle was for items he purchased when

he stayed in the area while his son undertook the training. However

information we were in possession showed the payments to Writtle

related to residential accommodation for his son while undertaking thetraining. The payment of 29.38 on the FDs related to an extra nights

accommodation for his son.

20. Two further payments in 2010 that were accounted for under

equestrian wereidentified that were paid for with Mr Gillilands

Federation credit card one for 472.50 to South Essex Ins and 41 to

Grundy Agriculture. No receipts were available for either purchase and

18: See sections 16&17. The FD authorised the transactions

outside the procedures laid out in the Finance Manual. All

claims made by the FD and the CEO must now be made at an

Executive Committee Meeting and recorded in the minutes.

The RO will audit these claims on a regular basis. The Trusthad not agreed to pay vouchers in lieu of Mr Gillilands

insurance.

19: The claim was authorised by the previous FD. The CEO

has been invoiced for these items (234.04 and 29.38)

together with the items listed in 20 below.

20. Mr Gilliland has been invoiced for the South Essex Ins

(472.50) and Grundy Agriculture (41) payments.


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Mr Gilliland could not recall what was purchased.

21. A payment of 990 was paid by the Federation in April 2011 to

Buzzacott Chartered Accountants in connection with advice in respect of

an accommodation benefit in kind for the CEO. Mr Gilliland confirmed

this was work that related to his personal tax position and did not relate

to Federation business.

22. As discussed below there has been extensive use of the Federationcredit cards. A number of these purchases appeared to be for personal

use and Mr Gilliland confirmed that he had purchased personal items

thatcame out of the 2,000 allowance discussed above. In July and

August 2011 Mr Gilliland made two payments to the Federation for

1,253.39 and 1,349.76 in relation to personal items he had purchased

from Amazon between December 2009 and July 2011. Mr Gilliland

stated that he had repaid these amounts as the new FD suggested that he

should repay the Federation for any personal items purchased.

23. Mr Gilliland admitted that some of the personal items purchased

using the Federation credit card and delivered to the Federation offices

were of an inappropriate nature to be delivered to a school site (e.g. sex

games and supplements). He stated that these would only be opened by

him as staff did not open mail addressed to him.

24. Mr Gilliland stated that it was his intention to live in the flat at the

Manor House at Laughton Manor however following the tax implications

advice received (as above) he decided against it. He stated he did live in

21: see section 15c Buzzacott

22: Mr Gilliland has repaid 2603 for purchases madebetween December 2009 and July 2011.

23. This cannot happen again with the new procedures that

have been put in place regarding the use of Credit Cards

(draft procedure available)

24: Any future requests / arrangement for live-in staff will

be brought to the Full Trust for their consideration,

including any tax implications.


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the Manor House for four to six weeks but did not live there full time. His

wife lives weekdays in the North of England and they meet at weekends.

He stated that he would have moved in full time if the tax implications

had allowed.

25. The ground floor of the Manor House was used as the alternative

curriculum centre from September until January, when the new

classrooms were completed. The top floors consisted of the flat that Mr

Gilliland intended to live in. The flat has been refurbished to a highstandard, for example:

kitchen units and installation cost in the region of 14,000 plus VAT;

three bathrooms cost in the region of 10,000 plus VAT this was

utilising some of the existing sanitary wear.

26. We have seen invoices that show the total costs of refurbishment

were in the region of 45,000 plus VAT. In invoices relating to carpets,

flooring, curtains, blinds and some furniture in the region of 25,000.

27. Since Mr Gilliland left (we believe in July or August 2011) the flat has

not been occupied. Mr Gilliland stated that its use has not yet been

determined it may be used for Teaching school residential

accommodation (if this is approved), for a live in equestrian centremanager or for the free school staff (if this is approved).

28. The French Centre consists of a Farm House (occupied by thecaretakers) with apartment (referred to as the cave) attached and

25: The original budget for the kitchen fit out was 5,000.

Mr Gilliland independently, and without authority, arranged

for different equipment to be installed and this took the cost

of the kitchen over the original budget.

26: In addition to fitting the flooring, further work had to be

carried out in order to make safe the floor this increased

the costs. Mr Gilliland chose curtains and blinds but did not

have the authority to increase the cost beyond budget.

27: The accommodation/office/rooms will be used by the

Federation for training, alternative provision and potentially

accommodation for LM staff and residential AP students.

28: The Trust does not condone the use of its property for

exclusive personal use and the draft policy on Cover for the


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student accommodation block with apartment above. Mr Gilliland stated

that apartment above the student accommodation was used by the bus

driver transporting the pupils to the Centre. The cave was used by Mr

Gilliland and family when they visited the French Centre. he stated

although he had first call on the accommodation it was not exclusively

for their use. He stated he did have some personal possession there but

not many.

29. He was asked if the FD has brought his personal possessions back

from the French Centre. He stated that Mr Davies had brought some

things back from the French Centre but not Mr Gillilands personal

possessions.

30. We raised concerns about the high cost of using David Edney, a local

builder in France, for refurbishment of the flat and cave.

31. We asked Mr Gilliland if the French Centre had ever been used for

non Federation activities. He stated that it had been used by his wife in

September 2010 for a dance school week. This was at a time when the

Centre was not being used by the Federation as it was at the start of thenew term. The arrangement was that participants (about 10 people)

received accommodation and possibly breakfasts and one evening meal.

They paid for all other expenses themselves and paid a cost for

accommodation that Mrs Gilliland repaid to the Federation. When we

followed this up it was identified that a cheque for 1,270 was paid to the

French Centre will reflect this clearly.

29: The Trust was not aware of this, and any such issues will

be reflected in the draft policy mentioned in Section 28.

30: Mr Gilliland coordinated the work undertaken by David

Edney. The Trust is aware of concerns over the costs

incurred; specific changes to the procurement policy will

ensure that there is no concern regarding future work

undertaken in France.

31: The Trust confirms that income generated by the use of

the Federations ass

the priory federation of academies trust response to findings for the education funding agency

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