Schools Week Report: 'Academy trusts: More than just one bad apple?'

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“There will always be some bad apples in any system” Breathtaking. People will exploit this system because they can – it’s the way it was set up – scribbled on the back of an envelope by Gove and his attack dog Cummings. The glaring flaws in the system are a) neither the DfE nor the ESFA have the capacity or the skill sets to oversee the finances of 7,000 schools directly, and b) it’s not within their remit to detect fraud – they’re not the SFO. Warning bells were ringing 8 years ago, but the warnings went unheeded with inevitable consequences. It’s worth remembering that Agnew, having run an academy trust, was ennobled and parachuted into the DfE as minister for academies, as was his predecessor. As the saying goes, absolute corruption corrupts absolutely." (John Connor)

"Academisation is institutionally corrupt. When you put Business (whose business is making money) before children and their Education, then making money inevitably wins.

One bad apple. Oh no! Not at all!" (Victoria Jaquiss)