Wayne Norrie
In December 2016, Ofsted published its ‘batched inspection’ report on Greenwood Dale Academies Trust. The inspectorate was damningly unrestrained in its criticism. The report, which followed the inspection of six of its 31 schools within a matter of days, stated that the trust had “let down pupils over a number of years”. Half of those schools inspected required special measures. Greenwood Dale – a trust that emerged from a model that had worked so well in one individual school – had failed to translate that success as an academy trust. A familiar story.