A high-profile academy trust has nearly doubled the amount it top-slices from its secondary schools’ budgets to fund an ambitious curriculum overhaul.
Schools Week reported last year how the Inspiration Trust had appointed eight subject specialists – described as “some of the country’s leading educational thinkers” – to develop its own “knowledge-led” curriculum. The trust also launched a specialist curriculum centre.
Newly-published accounts for the 2017-18 academic year show Inspiration, founded by academies minister Lord Agnew, has increased the amount it deducts from its schools’ budgets to cover the curriculum expansion.
The trust top-sliced 9.94 per cent of its secondaries’ income last year – up from just 5.25 per cent in 2016-17.
Inspiration’s top-slice for its primary schools actually reduced to four per cent last year. But the total amount deducted from its 14 schools’ budgets rose by more than £1.5 million to just over £3 million last year.
Inspiration Trust hikes top-slice from school budgets to cover curriculum team costs
