From falling pupil numbers to challenges in recruiting teachers, small schools in England are fighting a seemingly never-ending battle for survival.

This, in part, explains why many have sought security by joining a multi-academy trust. Data previously shared with Tes from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) shows that out of all the schools that joined a trust in 2021-22, 15 per cent were primaries with 100 pupils or fewer - the largest growth in six years.

Joining a MAT may not be a silver-bullet solution to the challenges that small schools face, of course. But joining a MAT does bring them into an organisation with more scale to tackle those challenges and, linked to that, it can mean that those small schools have a stronger voice to shout about the difficulties they are facing.

MATs helping small schools

Taking collective action to improve support for small schools, eight chief executive officers of MATs that are predominantly formed of small schools have recently joined forces to launch a national group.

The aim is to enhance the standing of small schools within the education system by advocating for policies and measures that put them on a more sustainable long-term footing. The group also wants to showcase what being in a MAT can mean for small schools.

“The challenges faced by small schools are rarely dealt with explicitly in policy decisions,” explains member Adrian Ball, CEO of the 40-school Diocese of Ely Multi-Academy Trust (DEMAT).

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“Therefore, this group provides an opportunity for a group of trusts, representing a significant number of small schools, to have that voice heard.”

The inspiration for the group was Hannah Woodhouse, formerly Department for Education regional director for the South West, who wanted to provide information and case studies for MPs about small schools and how they operate.

Initially the group started meeting informally online to discuss shared issues and challenges, and out of this grew the small school strategy group, which is now being supported by the Confederation of School Trusts (CST).

It aims to meet weekly and plans to create a wider meeting platform to share good practice, once membership is fully established.

Funding challenges

One key area that the group will focus on is funding, given how small schools will be disproportionately impacted by predicted falls in pupil rolls and funding decisions in the coming years.

The total number of pupils in state-funded primary and secondary schools is projected to fall from a peak of 7.57 million in 2022-23, decreasing at an average rate of 1 per cent each year until it reaches 7.14 million in 2028-29, according to a report published by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) in April.

The number of primary pupils is obviously falling at a faster rate than the number in secondary education: from its peak in 2018-19 at 4.73 million, an average yearly decrease of 1.5 per cent each year is predicted by the EPI, eventually falling to 4.06 million in 2028-29.

For some small schools, even if their pupil numbers decline by just a few, the per-pupil funding they receive could be insufficient for them to remain viable, according to Nigel Ashley, chief executive officer of North Yorkshire-based Elevate Multi Academy Trust. Elevate currently has 14 primary schools, rising soon to 18, of which 12 have fewer than 150 pupils.

“When you’re a really small school and you start losing 1.5 per cent of your pupil population, potentially more depending on the year, you’ve got nothing to strategically change and then you’re looking at possible school closures,” Ashley says.

What’s more, because small schools hold an important position within their local communities as one of the few services left after traditional local amenities like post offices and pubs have shut, closures should be a big concern, adds Ashley.

“I think we have a responsibility to support these rural schools to thrive and be the centre of their local communities,” he says.

Fears for school budgets

Ball says the fear is that future governments will see the drop in pupil numbers as an “opportunity to save money” when it should be seen as a reason to shake up and improve primary funding.

“The per-pupil funding at primary is not sufficient as it is. An investment in our youngest children would be a good start for the next government,” he says.

In the meantime, the trusts with small schools are sharing best practice when it comes to surviving on a tight budget.

For example, Nicky Dunford, who is CEO of Link Academy Trust, which has 19 primary schools across rural Devon, and chair of the strategy group, explains that because small schools are often located in rural locations, it can be hard to get tradespeople to provide good “value for money”.

In this situation, schools can look to use funding for capital improvements to do as much work as possible at one time, “because once the builders are already in, you get a better deal”.

Sourcing more resources

The trust has also employed a member of staff dedicated to income generation, “who goes after funding wherever it may be”, Dunford explains.

This starts at a very low level, such as seeking funding from the Foyle Foundation for library improvements, going all the way up to securing Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) cash to revamp often ageing estates.

“Small schools are really struggling to plan how to improve their estates”

Meanwhile, at Elevate the trust has employed its own maintenance person focused on “preventative maintenance”. “We were finding that the school estate was deteriorating and this has saved us thousands of pounds,” Ashley explains.

Dunford says challenges in this area remain, however.

“We can’t manage our estates with any clarity,” she says. “We’ve put in eight bids [for funding] this time around, and we’ve got three of them. But we never know when we will get the next successful bid.

“It means that small schools are really struggling to plan how to improve their estates.”

Staff growth

Another area the group is looking at is staff recruitment and retention because this can be difficult for small schools due to a perceived lack of opportunity for career progression and the need for staff to be able to teach a wide age range within a class, sometimes across key stages. For staff, this can be difficult and their planning can be time consuming.

“Small schools often present fewer opportunities for career development due to fewer available positions,” acknowledges Ball.

However, he says that within DEMAT staff benefit from a “shared curriculum and principles”, which means they can more easily move from one school to another “without having to learn the content of a new curriculum or behaviour management approach”.

There are also subject associate roles at DEMAT that allow staff to take a lead in curriculum development and CPD across one of six hubs. These roles provide “subject leadership career opportunities usually only found in secondary schools”, says Ball.

Meanwhile, Dunford says Link Academy Trust benefits from employing two permanent floating supply teachers to move between schools to cover unexpected absences.

In North Yorkshire, Damian Chubb, CEO of Dales Academies Trust, which is formed of one secondary and 14 primary schools - five of which he terms “micro schools” with fewer than 50 pupils - says that as well as a MAT providing job opportunities, it can also give staff more scope to network, develop new skills and share ideas.

“A Reception teacher can now talk to all the other Reception teachers [within the trust] and the administrator now also has connections to colleagues undertaking the same role in other settings,” he says.

“If you have a collective of people who are in a similar situation, it creates an effective forum for the sharing of ideas and best practice.”

Supporting SEND

Ashley at Elevate says this approach can also extend to support for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). When a small school is operating in isolation it can struggle to provide the right levels of support, but within a trust this can be made possible.

“We employ our own specialist support including an educational psychologist and communication and interaction and social, emotional and mental health experts,” says Ashley.

“Where there hasn’t [previously] been the expertise within the schools, we’ve been able to ensure those schools get that expertise.”

While advocating for policy change within the system to help small schools, Ball says that the small schools strategy group can play a key role through the sharing of ideas and best practice - whether that is related to SEND support, teaching practice or maintenance funding.

The group is optimistic it can be a positive force for change for these schools.

“It is important those of us working with large numbers of small schools use our collective voice to not just highlight pressures and challenges facing small schools but also provide suggestions and ideas about how to support and develop these schools,” says Ball.

Nick Hughes is a freelance journalist

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