Three unions held a “well attended and passionate” joint meeting last night (Wednesday) with Hinchingbrooke School staff following the principal's shock departure.  

Mark Patterson, head of the Huntingdon secondary school, is understood to have been placed on gardening leave after he revealed last week around £0.75m is “top sliced” from his school budget each year.  

In response, the ACES Academies Trust says the funds are for trust-wide functions such as finance, HR and building maintenance.  

Around 80 members of staff – including teachers, classroom assistants and office staff – attended a meeting with representatives from the National Education Union (NEU), the NASUWT teaching union and UNISON.  

Paul McLaughlin, regional secretary of the NEU in the Eastern Region, explained “there is a great deal of respect” among staff for Mr Patterson.  

The NEU will now be seeking “an urgent meeting” with the ACES Academies Trust in an attempt to address its members’ concerns.  

He said: “As a general point, Mr Patterson’s public letter announcing his resignation has highlighted a significant and endemic problem across the academy system as a whole.   

“This is that trusts regularly ‘top slice’ large portions of the budget often in ways that are entirely opaque, such as at Hinchingbrooke School, with no apparent good reason.  

“The figures at the ACES Academies Trust show it has creamed off over £1m from school budgets. 

“They will argue this is money somehow well spent and reinvested but as is evidenced by the actions of the headteacher, clearly this is not apparent to those involved.   

“Hinchingbrooke School alone had to supply £750,000 to this ‘top slice’.  

“What is it that the trust is providing for that money?   

He added: “We have had on-going concerns about many trusts and the use of public money.] 

“This is obviously the latest example and there are countless examples elsewhere.  

“We believe the system should be transparent and where public money is being used it should be clearly visible to the taxpayers who are footing the bill.” 

The Hunts Post: Hinchingbrooke School, in Huntingdon. Hinchingbrooke School, in Huntingdon. (Image: Newsquest)Mark Burns, NASUWT’s national executive member for Cambridgeshire, echoed the high level of support for Mr Patterson among the staff at Hinchingbrooke School.  

“But there is a great lack of confidence in the trust’s CEO [Andrew Goulding],” he added.

"We will be discussing with our members all the possible options available to them, and that includes industrial action."

The Hunts Post: Mark Burns, the NASUWT National Executive who represents the union’s members in Cambridgeshire.Mark Burns, the NASUWT National Executive who represents the union’s members in Cambridgeshire. (Image: NASUWT)Rob Turner, UNISON Cambridgeshire County branch secretary, said: “Staff aren’t happy with the mess ACES is making of their school.   

“The trust is raiding Hinchingbrooke’s funds and trying to muzzle anyone who speaks out about it.    

“Mark Patterson was a popular head among parents and staff alike, there’s a lot of anger at the way he’s been treated.  

“Many workers share Mark’s concerns about what’s happening to the school.”   

He added: “Trustees will be thinking they’ve silenced dissent now they’ve forced out the principal.  

“They’re going to be disappointed.”  

The ACES Academies Trust said it has "nothing further to add".