Scandal-hit Bradford free school ‘needs new leaders’

SENIOR leaders and governors at a scandal-hit school in Yorkshire are failing to taking effective action to improve the school according to a critical new Ofsted inspection.
David Cameron meets children from Kings Science Academy, Bradford, during a visit in 2012.David Cameron meets children from Kings Science Academy, Bradford, during a visit in 2012.
David Cameron meets children from Kings Science Academy, Bradford, during a visit in 2012.

The Kings Science Academy in Bradford needs to secure new “additional leadership”, improve the breadth of GCSEs it offers and recruit more experienced teachers, the inspection watchdog warns.

The free school was found to require improvement by Ofsted in its first ever inspection around a year ago.

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Since then it has become engulfed in a financial scandal after a Department for Education (DfE) investigation report containing allegations of fraud was leaked.

West Yorkshire Police is now investigating claims by the DfE audit that fabricated invoices were submitted to claim public money as part of a lead-in grant to help it open.

The school’s founder and principal Sajid Raza was arrested by detectives investigating the alleged fraud earlier this year.

The Ofsted report published yesterday notes that he is currently “absent long term”. A statement on the school’s website had said that he would not return to the school until the police investigation was finished.

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Ofsted is calling on the school to take immediate action to “secure additional leadership capacity at the most senior level”.

It says the academy also needs to set goals to move it to becoming good or better within the next two to three terms.

The latest report highlights the need to develop a GCSE curriculum with the breadth and balance to meet the need of all students.

Ofsted also call for the Kings Science Academy to recruit “sufficient high quality, experienced teachers” to deliver the curriculum and develop systems to hold teachers’ to account.

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However the report also says that in recent weeks senior leaders and the chairman of the governing body have accelerated the academy’s development.

It also says that significant decisions have been taken including reconsidering entering pupils for GCSE in chemistry and biology at the age of 14. Ofsted say governance is improving and that following training there is a structure and sub committees in place for decision making.

However it says only the chairman, John Bowers, has expertise in education and that he is currently bearing “very considerable responsibilities for finance and staff management” which would normally be done by a school’s most senior leaders.

The Yorkshire Post was unable to contact anyone from the Kings Science Academy yesterday.

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Coun Ralph Berry, Bradford Council’s executive member for schools, called for the recommendations in the Ofsted report to be acted on urgently.

He said: “These issues were raised by an Ofsted report a year ago but the latest inspection seems to show that there has been resistance to act on recommendations until recently. Had this been a local authority-run school we would already have acted to bring in an interim executive board.

“I think it does show the need for local authorities to have the tools to intervene at any school in its area - regardless of whether its a free school or academy.”

Coun Berry has previously highlighted comments by Ofsted’s chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw who said local authorities would be held accountable for how well they challenged and supported free schools and academies - even though these schools are run outside of council control.

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The DfE’s handling of the fraud allegations at the Kings Science Academy have been a source of major controversy with local MPs asking why the department failed to secure a police investigation until after the matter was leaked to the media.