Portland's IPACA handed financial notice to improve by Department for Education

The Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy (IPACA) has been handed a Financial Notice to Improve (FNtI), the Echo has learned.

The school, currently run in a partnership between Dorset County Council and the Aldridge Foundation, is only months away from a controversial move to join Aldridge Education, a multi-academy trust (MAT) based in London.

The Education Funding Agency, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Education, has written to the school informing it of the concerns.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “We have issued a Financial Notice to Improve to IPACA due to concerns about governance and financial management.

“The FNtI will be in place until we are satisfied that the trust has taken effective action to address our concerns.

“Academy trusts operate under a strict system of oversight and accountability – more robust than in council-run schools – which means that when any issues are identified we take action swiftly.”

A spokesman for Aldridge Education said: “The IPACA governing body was aware of the FNtI at the time when it agreed the recommendation for the academy to join the multi-academy trust, as was Aldridge Education.

“It is not a new factor in this process but one which all parties are working to resolve.

“While that is happening behind the scenes IPACA is 100 per cent focussed on our learners.”

The news comes amidst a divisive row over the academy’s plans to join the MAT in January next year.

A petition against the move has more than 1,000 signatures.

On Wednesday, governor Matt Longshaw said he had left the board of governors.

Two other members have also reportedly left, including chairman John Tizard.

Mr Longshaw was joined by parents on Wednesday morning outside the school at Southwell Park on Portland to protest the move to the MAT.

He was supported by representatives from the National Union of Teachers (NUT). IPACA was contacted to respond but has not yet done so.