A PRIMARY school which was at the centre of a probe after it paid its chairman to stay at a luxury hotel at a cost of £900 has been found to have improved its financial governance.

The Olive Tree Primary School is no longer subject to a "financial notice to improve " by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA) after it strengthened its 'financial management'.

The Daubhill-based school, rated good by Ofsted, was served with the notice in January 2020 after an investigation following a number of allegations and conflicts of interest and potential breaches of governance frameworks between December 2018 and March 2019.

Findings including paying the chairman of the school board to stay at the Intercontinental Chicago at a cost of £900 to the school.

The money was 'recouped in full" by the school following the investigation.

EFSA has now lifted the notice after the school trust met a number of conditions set out. including "providing evidence to ESFA of improved and robust measures to ensure compliance" and introducing "clear lines of accountability between the accounting officer and the trustees".

Speaking on behalf of the of The Olive Tree Trust Board, Principal Haroon Asghar said:" In our last inspection by Ofsted, inspectors noted that the trustees of The Olive Tree had acknowledged the findings from the external audit by the ESFA and were taking appropriate actions to resolve the issues. Since then, our trustees have worked extensively to act upon the requirements of the Financial Notice to Improve (FNtI) in order to strengthen internal processes and ensure robust financial management.

"The ESFA has since written to the trust board to confirm it is satisfied that the FNtI conditions have been met and the FNtI has been lifted.

"Our trustees are pleased with this recognition by the ESFA and with the ESFA's subsequent decision to remove the FNtI."

He added:"Moving forward, the trust continues to embed the controls and processes which have led to this improvement in order to exercise strong governance and financial oversight of the trust. This includes internal and external scrutiny by independent financial auditors which provides added assurance of due diligence by the trust in this regard."

However the school has been told by EFSA it is "important that the trust continues to embed the controls and processes which have led to this improvement and continues to exercise strong governance and financial oversight of the trust".

An Ofsted visit found that the financial issues had not impacted on children's education, with inspectors finding that the education provision had improved with children performing well in the 3Rs ­— and leadership and management of the school was graded good.