A FAILING academy trust that runs three Basingstoke schools is closing and handing them over to another provider following a string of poor Ofsted inspections.

Catch-22 Multi-Academies Trust was asked by the regional director (RD) from the Department for Education (DfE) to stop running three of its academies in the last year and has now decided to pass over the remaining seven academy schools, three of which are in Basingstoke.

This means Catch-22 will no longer operate as a provider of academies.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said the regional director issued a ‘termination warning notice’ to Catch-22 regarding Coppice Spring Academy, in Basingstoke, in July after it was graded as ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in March.

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Catch-22 sent representations for why it thought it should be allowed to continue to operate the academy but the regional director decided to remove the school from the trust.

The DfE spokesperson said: “In light of other recent Ofsted inspections of its academies, the trust’s board decided it was in the best interest of all of its pupils to transfer all its academies and close the trust.”

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The other two Basingstoke schools run by the academy – Ashwood Academy in Winklebury and Austen Academy in Popley – were both inspected by Ofsted recently, the results of which are yet to be published.

The DfE said that of the seven academies run by Catch-22 four are now ‘inadequate’ and three ‘require improvement’.

Austen Academy – a brand-new £10.1m school – only opened last year, in Shakespeare Road.

Ashwood Academy, in Ashwood Way, is currently graded as ‘good’ on Ofsted’s website while the Austen Academy, in Shakespeare Road, Popley, does not yet have a rating.

Catch-22, whose academies are spread across the country including in Devon and Norfolk, blamed the pandemic and funding issues for its decline.

A statement sent by the academy trust from Daniel Jansen, interim education chief executive, said: “The last few years have been a particularly challenging time to deliver alternative provision and specialist education, not least because of the impact of the pandemic and the wider funding environment.

“We’re incredibly proud of all our staff who work so hard to provide good quality education to our pupils, in what are undoubtedly difficult circumstances.”

Mr Jansen added: “In reaching a decision as to how to proceed, we have considered many factors such as the geography, the number and type of schools, the capacity to improve and, most importantly, what would be best for the pupils.

“In our view, a smaller and stretched MAT [multi-academy trust] will be unable to provide the excellence that we strive for so, we regretfully informed the Regional School Commissioner that we would like to re-broker all of our MAT schools to ensure they have the best opportunity to deliver high-quality services moving forward.”

Mr Jansen said Catch-22 has “no definite timescale” for when this will happen but has advised the RD that it would like the process to be completed by April 2023.

He has vowed to continue to “address all areas for improvement raised by Ofsted” in the meantime, so that “our students and staff are in the best place possible before being transferred to a new provider”.

All staff working in its schools will remain in post and transfer to the new provider.

The DfE spokesperson said: “We are focused on helping all schools into strong academy trusts because we know that they can transform underperforming schools.

“In the rare instances when a single or several academies within a multi academy trust continue to have poor Ofsted ratings, the Regional Director will engage with the trust to assess whether it should be able to continue running the school and take action to transfer it to another trust, if necessary.”

Hampshire County Council, which assesses and commissions places at Austen Academy, declined to comment. A spokesperson said: “The oversight of academies lies with the Department for Education’s regional team and therefore we would not wish to comment on this matter.”