To:

Dr Matthew Laban, Chief Executive Officer, Aspire Learning Trust  

Karl Munns, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Aspire Learning Trust  

Regional Director for the East of England, Department for Education.

We, the parents, carers, and community stakeholders of Sir Harry Smith Community College, formally express our total lack of confidence in the current Principal, Dawn White, and the Senior Leadership Team (SLT).  

The recent Ofsted inspection conducted in September and October 2025 resulted in a "Requires Improvement" grading across all key judgements, explicitly including Leadership and Management. However, the published report only scratches the surface of a systemic crisis in administration, legal compliance, and duty of care at this academy.  

We are demanding immediate intervention from the Aspire Learning Trust Board to replace the current SLT due to the following critical failures:

1. Systemic Leadership and Management Failures

The official Ofsted report highlights a profound collapse in basic school administration.

The school’s systems do not provide leaders with the detailed information needed to make the right decisions or gauge the impact of their actions.  

Changes in policies have not always been well thought out or well implemented.  

The school fails to effectively communicate why changes take place, causing widespread frustration among staff, parents, and carers.  

The school does not always collect the detailed information it needs regarding pupil behaviour, progress, and attendance.  

2. Unlawful Administrative Policies and Misdirection

Beyond the Ofsted findings, the SLT operates fundamentally flawed and legally non-compliant administrative processes. The leadership has implemented unlawful "blanket bans" regarding statutory attendance policies, deliberately fettering their own legal discretion. Furthermore, when challenged, the SLT actively misdirects parents, passing their statutory responsibilities onto the Local Authority despite operating as an independent academy under the Aspire Learning Trust.

3. Failure to Support Vulnerable Students (SEND)

The current leadership has failed to ensure staff possess the expertise required to adapt the curriculum for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).  

Some pupils with SEND struggle to access the curriculum and engage with learning.  

Pupils with SEND sometimes find it hard to enjoy school and achieve as well as they should due to a lack of effective lesson adaptations.  

Staff lack the necessary information to precisely adapt the curriculum for these vulnerable students.  

4. Failure to Cultivate a Safe and Respectful Environment

The behaviour of a minority of pupils disrupts the learning of others.  

Some pupils make unkind comments towards their peers, which affects the enjoyment of school for others.  

Pupils, parents, and staff share deep frustration that the school does not always deal with these behavioural issues well enough.  

Call to Action

The Trustees have acknowledged there is further work to do to improve the school's provision. However, we do not believe the current SLT possesses the competence, transparency, or legal understanding to enact this work.  

An academy is strictly bound by its Funding Agreement and statutory education law. Operating unlawful policies while simultaneously failing to provide a high-quality education or support vulnerable students is a direct threat to the safety of our children and the reputation of the Aspire Learning Trust.

We demand that the Board of Trustees and the Regional Director intervene immediately to restructure the Senior Leadership Team and install competent management capable of running Sir Harry Smith Community College lawfully, transparently, and effectively.