Cecil Jones Academy: Legra Trust criticised

Cecil Jones Academy, in Southend, was rated "inadequate" by Ofsted inspectors earlier this year

An educational trust has insisted that £795,000 made from the sale of land at a school has been reinvested.

The Legra Trust, which runs Southend's Cecil Jones Academy, sold the site's lower school last year.

The latest Ofsted inspection said the academy remained "inadequate". Another trust is to take over the school.

Questions had been raised over where sale proceeds had gone but Legra Trust said it had been "solely spent on Cecil Jones".

The trust said the school buildings were "not fit-for-purpose" when it took over in September 2015.

It said the money had been spent on improvements, securing the site, design, building extra class spaces and included a fund for "operational costs", such as replacing boilers.

But parents are frustrated pupils will not see any day-to-day benefits, with some telling BBC Essex the school "needs help".

The academy has had at least four head teachers since January 2016.

Councillors have approved plans to extend Belfairs Academy in Leigh-on-Sea, which is also run by the Legra Trust

Bev Williams, Legra Trust chief executive, said it had worked "incredibly hard" to deal with "challenging and difficult" behaviour that Ofsted said was "entrenched in the culture of the academy".

It was partly for that reason the trust "reluctantly decided the academy would be better served by a trust with a proven track record of leading challenging schools".

She said the academy had a history of inadequate Ofsted ratings before it took over in 2015 and confirmed Loxford School Trust would take over after half-term.

Former teacher David Moffitt, who worked there before it was a Legra Trust academy, claimed the sale of the lower school had left pupils at a "serious disadvantage" and the cash should be paying for "more teachers and equipment".

He said. "It's time somebody took a serious look at the finances of this particular trust and its capability to lead."

Last week, councillors approved plans to build 15 extra classrooms and extend the sports hall at Belfairs Academy - the Legra Trust's secondary school in neighbouring Leigh-on-Sea, rated as Good by Ofsted.

The trust said it was "an entirely separate project, funded by Southend Borough Council".

Brian Ayling, an independent Southend Borough councillor whose ward includes the Cecil Jones Academy, said: "There are plans for Belfairs, so it does raise questions as to how that's being financed by Legra, and then we hear they're pulling out of Cecil Jones and we're not seeing any sign of that [money] being invested into the Cecil Jones site.

"It's a question that needs addressing."

The Executive Complaints Unit has upheld a complaint by the Legra Academy Trust about the BBC's coverage of this story.