THE financial management of Isambard School has been slammed in a council report revealing a number of serious failings.

The report says a lack of proper diligence has resulted in inaccurate budgeting, leading to pupils potentially not getting the most out of their time at the school.

A deficit of £750,000 over the next three years is being predicted, although this cannot be verified as inaccurate figures were used by management.

In contrast, there was a surplus of more than £650,000 in the last financial year, something which management only discovered in the last few weeks of the year.

Governors at the school have been targeted for failing in their duty to manage the school’s finances adequately.

Key factors were not included when looking at the financial state of the school, major financial decisions were not recorded in the minutes of meetings and significant issues raised months ago have not been addressed.

The report says: “The audit review found that the school’s three-year financial plan, used for financial planning, budgetary control and budget setting, was not based on robust information and had resulted in inaccurate budgets being set.

“Significantly, budgets were not supported by an up-to-date staffing review or School Development and IT Development Plans.

“As a result Internal Audit have been unable to confirm that effective financial management is in place to enable the school to optimise their use of resources to provide high-quality teaching and learning, and so raise standards and attainment for its pupils.”

It goes on to say: “It has not been possible to confirm that the governing body is fulfiling its statutory responsibilities.

“A review of the governance arrangements conducted by the council’s governors support section in March 2014 raised a number of the issues found in this audit.

“However, action has not been taken to implement recommendations to improve governance arrangements.

“In summary, the Internal Audit review identified a number of fundamental control weaknesses that jeopardise financial stability and performance at the school.

The school and governing body now need to urgently address the issues raised in the action plan at the end of this report.”

The report was put together for the council’s audit committee after concerns were raised following the massive variances in the surplus and predicted deficit, as well as falling pupil numbers and declining standards.

Isambard currently has an interim headteacher following the retirement of Rachel Mattey and a new one is not expected to be in place until the end of the academic year.

The Adver made several attempts to contact the school and the chairman of governors but there was no response before going to print.

The report is set to go before Swindon Council’s audit committee of on November 4 at 6pm in the Civic Offices.

To read the report visit ww5.swindongov.uk/ moderngov/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=687&MId=6475&Ver=4