Arena Academy is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in the

Perry Beeches Perry Beeches is an area of Great Barr, Birmingham, England, within the parliamentary constituency of Perry Barr. Previously agricultural, with some sand and gravel quarrying on the site of Asda Queslett; it was developed as a residential subu ...

area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

of England. Previously a community school administered by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...

, Perry Beeches School converted to academy status on 3 May 2012 and was renamed Perry Beeches The Academy. On 14 July 2017, Kevin Rogers of Perry Beeches 2 announced to students that Perry Beeches The Academy was going to leave Perry Beeches The Academy Trust and would change to a new trust and would change uniform and name. The school joined CORE Education Trust and was renamed Arena Academy. The school offers

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils.

Perry Beeches The Academy Trust

Perry Beeches The Academy was formerly the lead school of Perry Beeches The Academy Trust and before that Perry Beeches Secondary School, a multi-academy trust which was formed of Perry Beeches The Academy,

Perry Beeches II The Free School Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is also mad ...

Perry Beeches III The Free School Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is also mad ...

, Perry Beeches IV The Free School and Perry Beeches V The All Through Family School. Together the schools offered a combined sixth form provision. In May 2013, Education Secretary

Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...

officially opened

, and in September 2013, Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

visited

shortly after it had opened. In March 2016 the

Education Funding Agency The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is an executive agency of the government of the United Kingdom, sponsored by the Department for Education. The ESFA was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of the Education Funding Agency a ...

published a critical report on the financial management and governance of the Trust. The report showed that the chief executive of the Trust, Liam Nolan, was being paid by sub-contractors as well as by the Trust. In addition more than £2.5 million of free school meal funding could not be checked because financial records had been deleted, that £1.3 million had been paid to a sub-contractor without a written contract or after a formal procurement exercise, and there was not effective oversight by trustees. In April 2016 the Education Funding Agency started investigating additional allegations. In May 2016 it was announced that the chief executive of the trust, Liam Nolan had resigned, as well as the trust’s entire governing board. The five academies and free schools that were formerly part of the trust were then administered directly by the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Department ...

until a new sponsor could be found for the schools. The trust had a debt of £2.1 million, and was running at a significant deficit. Perry Beeches III was put in

special measures Special measures is a status applied by regulators of public services in Britain to providers who fall short of acceptable standards. In education (England and Wales) Ofsted, the schools inspection agency for England and some British Overseas Ter ...

in October 2015 by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

, and in November 2016 the academy trust was rated "inadequate".

References

External links

Arena Academy website
* {{authority control Secondary schools in Birmingham, West Midlands Academies in Birmingham, West Midlands