CEO confirms school trust faces £1.2m deficit

Peter Hughes says that the deficit will lead to redundancies "across the board"

The leader of an educational trust has confirmed that a £1.2m deficit across the accounts of three schools was discovered following a merger.

On 31 December the Mossbourne Federation acquired Hassenbrook Academy, Corringham Primary School and Gable Hall School, which are all in Thurrock, Essex, and were previously run by the Ortu Federation.

Peter Hughes, the chief executive officer of the Mossbourne Federation, told the BBC that due to the deficit the trust would have to make redundancies to teaching staff.

He added that would include cuts to pastoral and special educational needs and disabilities (Send) teaching support staff.

"We're about building kids and giving the independence, and not creating dependence and quite often what you see around Send is 'put another teaching assistant, put another person with that child'," said Mr Hughes.

"That child doesn't learn independence, they learn to become dependent upon that adult.

"What we're doing is creating a system whereby these children become great young, independent adults by the time they leave us," he added.

Pupil wellbeing

On 2 January, more than 100 parents of children who attended the three schools met in the Homesteads Village Hall in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, to voice concern over the impact the trust's teaching style has had on their children's mental health.

In December, Mossbourne Federation schools in Hackney, east London, were accused of presiding over a "toxic culture" towards their pupils, which included claims that teachers would routinely scream at pupils for minor infractions, with "public humiliation" being commonplace.

The academy denied the claims and said it offered a safe learning environment for all its pupils, as evidenced by positive Ofsted reports and local authority reviews.

Mr Hughes defended the trust's teaching style: "I'm absolutely confident by our approach, we have seen huge success and we have seen children who are going on to lead amazing lives.

"I think there's a lot of people not looking at the facts.

"Change worries people... Children come first, they're above every teacher, they're above their parent and they're a long, long way above me," he said.

Roy Nineham chaired the meeting that more than 100 parents attended

James McMurdock, the Reform MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock who attended the meeting, said he was shocked to hear some of the claims made by parents: "Both as a parent and a local resident it was really difficult to hear."

John Kent, the Labour leader of Thurrock Council who attended the meeting, said he thought academies should be more accountable to the local community rather than to the Department for Education and Westminster.