At the start of the current academic year, approximately 40 per cent of primary schools had converted to academies, with the vast majority having joined multi-academy trusts. This means that around 10,000 primary schools are operating outside of the academies programme.
By contrast over 75 per cent of secondary schools are now academies, according to recent FFT Education Datalab analysis.
This means that for many, the academies programme is seen as belonging to the secondary sector, and growing the number of primary academies across the system is a challenge to be addressed.
Yet from 2014, when I started as the regional schools commissioner (RSC) for the South West, and then from 2015 to 2018, when I was national schools commissioner, I witnessed an increase in primary-only trusts, some of which have gone on to become highly successful.
I could name many but in the past year or so I have seen first-hand how strong STEP Academy Trust has become, with primary hubs in south-east London and Hastings, and how effective The Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, with 14 primary schools and four secondary schools, has been in embedding the values and beliefs of the Church alongside rapid school improvement.
There has also been similar growth in what I have come to call “all-through” trusts, in which primary schools that were already sharing the same community as their secondary partners have come together to connect the 4-19 learning journey for children and families.
Getting more primary schools into multi-academy trusts
Yet the challenge for the “all-through” multi-academy trust, in which the experience of the trust leaders is secondary-focused, has been to grow enough primary capacity quickly.
Without this primary expertise, certain challenges - in early years, for example, or where key stage 2 Sats performance has been an issue in the past - could not be addressed at pace.
For some trusts, this took them too long, but as the model has matured, we now see examples of primary trusts welcoming secondary schools into their families.
Cornwall Education Learning Trust and Embark Federation in Derbyshire are two strong examples of trusts that were built around primary practice but that now lead secondary schools in their part of the country.
But as the data above makes clear, these are still in the minority. Yet if this government - and whoever comes next - wants to drive more primary academisation, the reality is that there is little capacity to enforce mass growth in academies.
Instead, the trusts must be the ones to convince primary schools to join them by making a compelling argument for the benefits of being in a MAT - something that won’t be easy, especially where a primary school’s performance is strong.
But this is a better approach than simply compelling primary schools. So how can trusts best persuade primary schools to join them? If I were running a trust again today, there would be three strategic arguments I would be making:
1. Sell the all-through benefits
Firstly, I would focus on building families of schools that support their community by making a promise to parents that they will educate their children from their first day of school to their last. There are three tangible benefits that I see to working in this way.
- The teachers who work with children from Reception to post-16 can communicate with greater ease and accuracy the needs and support for each child as they progress through the trust. While their primary and secondary schools might be in different locations, the seamless transfer of information means it is more likely that the key transition points will be managed better.
- If the trust articulates a clear set of values and beliefs and remains true to them, then the level of ethical consistency about how education is organised and delivered creates a consistent role for the family as they work with the trust and its schools to ensure success.
- Children have talents that emerge at different points in their development. A trust that spotlights music or dance, netball or cricket can create mini sporting and artistic academies that enable this talent to be nurtured, whether or not the individual school has the capacity to do it itself. The number of trusts that run orchestras and choirs for children from their different schools, or rugby academies for some of the best players in their schools, is on the increase and, for me, this is an important added benefit to the 4-19 learning journey debate.
2. Put expertise on the frontline to help schools
Secondly, I would “commission” the expertise I need to add capacity to my trust by being very deliberate about the primary schools I want to join the trust.
This would mean rather than adding more central leadership roles to the salary bill, we could use frontline talent to help solve problems and improve outcomes.
By inviting schools to lead a specific curriculum or pedagogical strategy, this would give them a responsibility and mission from day one and quickly move conversations away from the sterile debate about the “loss of autonomy” that still persists.
3. Promote the benefits of cross-phase collaboration
Thirdly, I would build a talent strategy that moves away from describing teachers as primary or secondary experts and focuses more closely on subject expertise.
The potential for creating collaborations between an early years phonics teacher and an A-level English teacher, for example, is significant in terms of both curriculum planning and design.
Get this right and not only will teachers see the complete learning journey of a child but also it will open up the potential for them to move seamlessly between primary and secondary teaching roles.
If we base the debate about academy growth around an educational vision such as that I have described above, we get away from the notion that structural change is a magic wand for improvement.
Instead, the debate would be about why being a leader in a primary school in a trust that works from this starting point can bring an educational purpose more sharply into focus for everyone.
Sir David Carter was the national schools commissioner from 2015 to 2018 and before that he was the first regional schools commissioner for the South West. He also served as CEO of the Cabot Learning Federation multi-academy trust from 2007 to 2014. He will be speaking at the 2023 Schools North East Academies Conference on 23 January.
