A trustee of the largest academy chain in England, who previously led one of the first city academies in the country, has been appointed to the board of Ofsted.
Dame Kathryn August became the first principal of Manchester Academy in Moss Side in 2003. It was graded “satisfactory” in 2005 then judged “outstanding” in 2009 - and Dame Kathryn was named as a national leader of education.
She has also worked as a senior education adviser at the Department for Education and is a qualified Ofsted inspector.
Last May, she was appointed a trustee of Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), which runs 61 academies.
Ofsted announcement
In a statement announcing her appointment this afternoon, Ofsted said Dame Kathryn “will bring extensive experience of secondary education and a clear understanding of academies and multi-academy trusts to the board”.
In September 2017, the inspectorate said it wanted a change in the law to allow it to inspect multi-academy trusts.
Dame Kathryn was made a dame in 2014 for services to education and currently works as an education consultant.
Together with Pamela Scriven, a lawyer with social care and safeguarding expertise, she replaces current Ofsted board members Linda Farrant, an accountant, and Paul Snell, a social services expert.
‘Hugely valuable’
Julius Weinberg, chair of the board, said: “I am delighted to welcome Kathryn and Pamela to the Ofsted board, and I am sure their individual expertise and experience will be hugely valuable to the organization.”
Last year, Professor Weinberg replaced another former AET trustees, David Hoare, who resigned as Ofsted chair after making controversial remarks about the Isle of Wight.
According to her biography on the AET website, Dame Kathryn was appointed visiting professor at the University of Salford Business School in January last year and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Ofsted board members are paid £8,282 a year, based on 20 days’ work.
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