The biggest academy chain in England has been accused by Ofsted of “failing too many pupils”. Inspectors say that almost half of pupils at secondary schools run by the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) are in schools that are “less than good”. Ofsted warns that poorer pupils do “particularly badly” in AET schools. In response the trust said it was disappointed that its “significant achievements” had “not been sufficiently recognised”. The Department for Education is threatening that unless standards are raised there will be “further action”. AET runs 67 academies across England. Such academy chains are independent but publicly funded to run schools. AET has charitable status and a financial report up to August 2014 said there was annual expenditure of £333m. Read more HERE