An academy trust that had fallen foul of academy rules under its former chief executive has become the latest chain to change its name. The Rodillian Multi-Academy Trust in Yorkshire will now be called the Resilience Multi-Academy Trust, following a 鈥渂rand review鈥� last year. Bosses believe the change 鈥� which have cost just under 拢3,000 to date 鈥� better reflects the organisation鈥檚 鈥渁greed vision and values鈥�. It also allows one of its schools, the Rodillian Academy in Wakefield, to 鈥渉ave its own identity separate from that of the trust鈥�. The trust has been under Education and Skills Funding Agency scrutiny over its finances in previous years. A 2017 investigation found it paid then chief executive Andrew Goulty almost 拢8,000 to spend 78 nights in a four-star hotel. ESFA was told this was because he worked late. Rodillian received a the following year over failures in governance and balancing the books. Goulty said at the time the trust had inherited deficits from two schools it was pressured to take on by the government. A second notice in 2019 ordered the trust to prove 鈥渁ll possible economies are being made鈥� to balance budgets.. Goulty鈥檚 pay was later slashed from between 拢225,000 and 拢230,000 to the 拢140,000 to 拢145,000 banding. He retired last December. Resilience isn鈥檛 the first trust to undergo a rebrand. Earlier this year it was announced that Academies Enterprise Trust would instead be called Lift Schools. It spent 拢45,000 creating the new brand but would not provide costs for the full name change, which includes things such as replacing signs outside its 57 academies. Reach4 was renamed Astrea in 2017, 12 months after Delta underwent a similar rebrand around the time Paul Tarn took over the reins as chief executive.
S.McMahon 22 December 2024 Goulty did not retire ‘of his own free will’. Closer scrutiny of the circumstances might bear fruit.