The parent company of England’s first for-profit free school has admitted it is providing a sub-standard education to its students.
Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES), the Swedish provider which runs the Suffolk free school IES Breckland, has told TES it has been forced to stage its own inspection of the state-funded independent, which found it is “not representative of our schools”.
The company said it was spurred into making the decision following the departure of its principal, Sherry Zand, who left the school in November last year, and amid general concerns over the quality of teaching.
During the internal review, Ofsted’s own inspectors paid a visit and while their report is yet to be published, IES is not expecting it to be favourable.
It is another blow to education secretary Michael Gove’s free school policy, which has already seen two schools being forced to close due to concerns around standards, and another being investigated by police over allegations of fraud.
