Arena Academy, formally known as the Perry Beeches 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 ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

located in the

Perry Beeches Perry Beeches is an area of Great Barr, Birmingham, England, within the parliamentary constituency of Birmingham Perry Barr. It was formerly part of the estate of Perry Hall, and from 1894 until 1928 came under the auspices of Perry Barr Urb ...

area of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

in the West Midlands of England. Previously a community school administered by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...

, Perry Beeches School converted to academy status on 3 May 2012 and was renamed Perry Beeches The Academy. It has since been renamed a third time to Arena Academy. The school offers

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils.

Financial Mismanagement Scandal

While it was known as Perry Beeches Academy, the school was the leader of the Perry Beeches Trust, a multi-academy trust formed of the Academy and four other Perry Beeches academies in the area. Together, the schools offered a combined sixth form provision. In March 2016 the

Education Funding Agency Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

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 Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...

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 department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

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

Notable alumni

Karen Johal Karen Johal (born 13 March 1991) is a British actress of Indian descent. She is best known for playing Nicole Shelley on season 3 of the Apple TV+ television series ''Ted Lasso'' (2020). She gained further recognition for her portrayal of Noreen ...

(born 1991), actress (''

Ted Lasso ''Ted Lasso'' ( ) is an American sports film, sports comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence (TV producer), Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly. It is based on a character Sudeikis portrayed in a series ...

'', '' Phoenix Rise'').

References

External links

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