St Ralph Sherwin CMAT has been issued with a financial notice to improve from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). A financial notice to improve is a publicly available letter that sets out the actions an academy trust must take to bring about improvement in its financial position. It will mean additional internal and external scrutiny of how the Trust manages its finances. The full letter is available via the link below.
The formal letter is the culmination of ongoing dialogue with ESFA over many months to address some of the historical issues that have led to the notice being issued. In their letter ESFA recognise the “work already underway to improve budgeting, monitoring and financial governance at St Ralph Sherwin”. The Trust Board and leadership of the Trust recognise that there is still more to be done, however.
The Trust has a Financial Recovery Plan in place. This has been built on extensive dialogue with Headteachers and staff across the Trust. This will hopefully put us in a place where we return to a balanced budget position during 2024.
We are very grateful to leaders, staff in schools and centrally, who have been working closely with us to identify savings which can be made whilst maintaining the high quality of education in our schools. Please be assured that we will continue to have an absolute focus on our core business, which is ensuring that all of our children receive the best Catholic education and care.
