£36,156 for a trip to New York: what the DfE found at one Nottingham school
What happened
Stone Soup Academy is a small school in Nottingham. It is an alternative provision school, which means it teaches young people who cannot be in a mainstream classroom - often because they have been excluded, or because their needs are not being met elsewhere. It is run as a single-academy trust, operating as Stone Soup Learns. On 17 September 2026, Schools Week reported the findings of a Department for Education investigation into how the trust had spent public money. The investigation found three main problems. The first was a trip to New York. The trust had first approved a budget of £10,000, later increased to £16,000. The trip ended up costing £36,156, for six pupils and three members of staff. The DfE found no clear audit trail and no explanation for the difference, and said the trust could not show it had followed its own policy, achieved value for money, or met procurement rules. The second was £1,200 of trust money spent on alcohol for a reunion event. The academy trust handbook forbids this outright. The third was a 13.7% pay rise given without proper board scrutiny. The DfE said the decision was not fully evidence-based, transparent or independently scrutinised. The trust's founder, Chris Manze, who returned as principal in March 2026, said the trust "accepts the DfE's findings and recommendations in full". The trust has since strengthened its financial controls, appointed a new chief financial officer and commissioned an external governance review.
Why this matters
Academy trusts are funded directly by government. The rules they must follow are set out in the Academy Trust Handbook, and they are not vague. Alcohol is banned. Large spending needs documentation. Pay decisions need independent scrutiny. Those rules exist because trust boards are made up of volunteers, and volunteers need clear lines to hold executives to. What gives this case an extra edge is the type of school. Alternative provision works with some of the most vulnerable young people in the country - pupils who have often been let down repeatedly before they arrive. It is also worth being fair about the trip itself. Taking young people who rarely leave their own city to New York is not automatically wrong. For some pupils, an experience like that genuinely changes what they think is possible. The DfE's finding is not that the trip should never have happened. It is that the trust could not show how £16,000 became £36,156, and that is a different problem.
What the evidence actually says
This is a published DfE investigation, and the trust accepts the findings in full. That is about as settled as this kind of story gets. A few points are worth separating out. The £36,156 covered nine people - six pupils and three staff. That works out at around £4,000 each. Expensive, certainly. But the finding is about governance rather than the raw figure: the budget was exceeded by more than double without a documented explanation. The £1,200 on alcohol is the clearest breach. The handbook does not leave room for interpretation. The 13.7% pay rise is the one that usually matters most to inspectors and auditors. Pay decisions made without independent scrutiny are a recurring theme in school financial investigations, because they are where conflicts of interest are most likely to sit. What is not alleged is fraud or personal gain. No criminal wrongdoing has been reported. This is a case about controls that were too weak, not about theft. It is also a case about a small organisation. Single-academy trusts have fewer people and thinner back-office functions than large multi-academy trusts, and they are where these weaknesses tend to show up.
Practical advice
If you are a parent, a governor or a trustee, there are some straightforward things you can do. Every academy trust must publish its annual report and accounts, and they are available free on the Companies House and GOV.UK websites. They show what was spent, what trustees were paid and what the auditors said. If your child's school is running an expensive trip, it is reasonable to ask how the cost was arrived at and whether it was put out to tender. Schools in England cannot charge for anything that is part of the curriculum, and must have a charging and remissions policy that sets out what they can ask for. That policy should be on the school website. If you cannot afford a trip, say so. Schools often have hardship funds or the pupil premium to draw on, and they would generally rather help quietly than have a child miss out. If you are a trustee or governor, the Academy Trust Handbook is the document to know. The questions that prevent cases like this are unglamorous ones: what was the approved budget, who approved the increase, and where is it written down. And if you have a serious concern about how a school is spending public money, you can report it to the Department for Education through its complaints route, or to the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
What to know
A Department for Education investigation into Stone Soup Academy in Nottingham found a New York trip costing £36,156 against an approved budget of £16,000, with no clear audit trail; £1,200 of trust funds spent on alcohol, which the academy handbook forbids; and a 13.7% pay rise agreed without proper board scrutiny. The trust has accepted the findings in full, brought in a new chief financial officer, tightened its controls and commissioned an external governance review. The wider point for parents and governors is about how school money is watched. If you are a parent, the trust's annual accounts are public. If you are a governor or trustee, the Academy Trust Handbook is the document that sets out what you are responsible for - and cases like this one are almost always about someone not asking a question early enough. Sources: Schools Week, "Trip to the Big Apple cost Nottingham AP school more than £36,000", 17 September 2026, https://schoolsweek.co.uk/trip-to-the-big-apple-cost-nottingham-ap-school-more-than-36000/ | Department for Education, "Academy Trust Handbook", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/academy-trust-handbook | GOV.UK, academy trust financial management and governance guidance, https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-funding-guidance-for-academies This article is for general information about education and school governance and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional.
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