“We support the decision of the Federation’s Governors to step down, a decision that follows concerns being raised by the council about the running of the Gipsy Hill Federation regarding a significant financial gap in their accounts and its overall management of its schools over a number of years.
“The council wrote to the Federation’s Board of Governors in July of 2023 to set out the details of these concerns and outlining the action it wanted to see to address them. A follow-up formal warning notice to the Governors explained that not enough was being done to address the concerns raised.
“Progress to address these concerns has not been sufficient, and in the autumn of 2023 the council proposed further measures to address these issues and ensure future improvement.
“Working with Southwark Council, we are supportive of the decision by Crawford School to leave the Federation and we will continue our work with all parties in the best interests of all the children at the schools.”
The total deficit for the Federation was more than £1.8 million in April 2023, and the Federation forecast it to rise to £2.44 million by March 31.
Two schools in the federation have been found to have poor performance when inspected by Ofsted – the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills.
