The Department for Education published on 5 June 2026 a notice to improve for Sacred Heart of Mary Girls' School, the single-academy trust running an open non-selective girls' secondary school in Upminster, Havering. The published notice reproduces a letter dated 11 May 2026 from Dr Vanessa Ogden, the department’s Regional Director for London, to chair of trustees Tracey Knight. (gov.uk)
The department says the trust’s breaches of the Academy Trust Handbook were serious enough to justify formal intervention on financial grounds. In the letter, officials say they recognise steps already taken by the trust, but remain concerned about its weak financial position and about financial management, governance and oversight. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
Annex A identifies the immediate trigger in more concrete terms. According to the notice, the trust failed to inform the department that it had entered an overdraft position and did not have enough funds to meet outstanding creditors and payroll, leading to multiple handbook breaches tied to board accountability, financial sustainability, realistic budgeting, timely action on variances and prior approval for borrowing. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
The practical effect of a notice to improve is tighter departmental control over transactions that would normally sit within an academy trust’s delegated freedoms. The letter says Sacred Heart must now obtain advance approval for special severance payments, compensation, debt write-offs, guarantees and indemnities, certain asset disposals, longer lease or tenancy arrangements, some carry-forward of unspent grant and pooling of general annual grant; the Academy Trust Handbook provides for those delegations to be revoked when a notice is issued, and the letter makes clear that retrospective approval will count as a further breach. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
The first recovery requirement is a board-approved financial recovery and improvement plan covering savings, cost reductions, stronger controls and regular reporting to trustees and the department. Annex B says the plan had to be submitted by 1 June 2026, with monthly updates thereafter through management accounts; because the notice was published on 5 June 2026, the public disclosure came after the initial submission deadline had already passed. (gov.uk)
The notice also places weight on management capacity and governance assurance. The trust must appoint a suitably qualified or experienced chief financial officer, keep DfE updated through recruitment and provide a summary of the appointment within 10 working days; the new CFO must also join the department’s school business manager mentoring programme by 29 June 2026, while the trust must maintain monthly submissions of management accounts, cashflow data, aged debtors and creditors reports, and board and finance committee minutes until the notice is lifted. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
Beyond immediate cash control, the department is seeking broader structural assurance. Sacred Heart must produce a dated plan responding to risks in its management letter and internal scrutiny report, commission an External Governance Review by 15 June 2026, and consider joining a strong Church multi-academy trust in line with diocesan expectations; GOV.UK records show the school is a Roman Catholic academy in the Diocese of Brentwood. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
For families and staff, the letter does not announce any immediate change to the school’s open status or to day-to-day education provision. What it does set out is a formal accountability route: the trust must publish the notice on its own website within 14 days of GOV.UK publication and keep it there until lifted, and if progress is insufficient the department says it may revise the notice, use contractual intervention powers, treat non-compliance as a funding agreement breach and, in continued cases, consider referral to the Charity Commission or Insolvency Service. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)