Here are the key regional board decisions affecting multi-academy trusts in each region in England in September 2023. For more updates, visit our regional advisory boards hub.

In total, there were 16 academy orders, 48 academy conversions and 20 academies moving trusts.

Scroll down or click the links below to jump straight to your region.

• Yorkshire and the Humber
• West Midlands
• South East
• North East
• East of England
• East Midlands
• South West
• North West
• London

Yorkshire and the Humber

• Approval was given for Northern Star Academies Trust to gain all six of Nurture Academies Trust’s primary schools, which will see Northern Star expand into Bradford. Nurture agreed to voluntarily dissolve after a review of its capacity for school improvement. The Northern Star Academies Trust will now grow to 15 schools in total (two secondaries and 13 primaries).
   
• The newly proposed Pennine Academies Learning Trust will take on two Hebden Bridge primary academies: Wainstalls School in Calderdale (from i-Trust) and Burnley Road Academy (from Burnley Road single academy trust).
   
• Also joining the trust will be three primary schools in Calderdale (Calder Primary School, Old Town Primary School, Midgley School) and two secondaries in Calderdale (Calder High School, Todmorden High School), which will all convert to academy status. The plan comes with a number of conditions, including that the trust should review its proposed governance structure and draw on simpler best practice models. Pennine Learning Trust is aiming for inception by July 2024, before welcoming its first intakes in September 2024 with seven schools (five primaries and two secondaries).
   
• As part of this plan, Pennine Academies Learning Trust should review its proposed governance structure, regional directors said. This should draw on best-practice models. The trust should also increase the time spent on this by the chief executive officer and chief finance officer to achieve the “rapid maturing” of the MAT’s plans, the regional board decided.
   
• The regional board noted there is currently no MAT presence in the West of Calderdale (Hebden Bridge and Todmorden) and schools in this rural area are looking to formalise pre-existing relationships.

West Midlands

• Three single-academy trusts (SATs) joined multi-academy trusts: Coundon Court secondary SAT in Coventry, Honeybourne Primary Academy SAT in Worcestershire, and Walkwood Church of England Middle School in Worcestershire joined The Futures Trust, Black Pear Trust and The Spire Church of England Learning Trust respectively.
   
• Two SATs in Worcestershire - Bredon Hill Academy and Prince Henry’s High School - were approved to join the newly proposed Worcestershire Hills Trust, which was proposing to form in November 2023. It will initially comprise four schools across Worcestershire.

South East

• Newick CofE Primary School in Lewes, East Sussex will convert and join the Diocese of Chichester Academy Trust, which currently has 22 schools - 21 primaries and one secondary. This will be its first school in the Lewes area.
   
• The Heights Primary School (SAT), Reading, has joined Bellevue Place Education Trust, which has 11 primary schools.

North East

• Single-academy trust St Aidan’s CofE Academy (secondary) in Darlington is to join the seven-school Northern Lights Learning Trust on the following conditions: the trust receives a school management resources adviser within six months of approval; provides a financial plan that addresses how it plans to mitigate against forecasted in-year deficits; and reviews its trustee board. The change marks an increased expansion into the centre of the country by the trust.
   
• Thornaby Academy, a secondary in Thornaby-on-Tees, will transfer from Falcon Academies Trust - the government-backed turnaround trust that is set to close - to Northern Education Trust, which currently has 23 schools (10 primaries and 13 secondaries) and is expanding its presence in Stockton-on-Tees.

East of England

• The four-school Kingsbridge Education Trust, which has two all-through schools and two primaries, was approved to sponsor a new primary academy in Wixams, Bedford - called Willow Grove Primary School - on condition that it reconsiders its governance structure.
   
• The sponsorship of a new primary school in Silfield, Norfolk was approved, with Unity Schools Partnership (33 schools in the East of England) as the preferred sponsor.
   
• Approval was given for the merging of the Pyramid Schools Trust in Harlington, Bedfordshire - which has two primaries, two middle schools and one secondary - with The Harlington and Sundon Academy Trust in Harlington.

East Midlands

• The board approved the merger of the two-school Mayflower Specialist School Academy Trust with Lincolnshire Wolds Community Trust, which also has two special schools. The board thought the merger would enable the sharing of best practice across all four schools and support the increasing need for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) places in Lincolnshire.
   
• The sponsorship by Discovery Schools Academy Trust (13 primaries and two special schools) of new academy Airfield Farm Presumption Primary School, Leicestershire was approved.
   
• The board also gave approval for the Vines Academy Trust (a four-school primary MAT) to merge with the Learn Academies Trust, based in Leicestershire. The move means Learn Academies Trust will grow to 19 schools.

South West

• Three Salisbury schools run by Somerset Road Education Trust were approved to transfer to Brunel Academies Trust, which currently has four special schools and one primary, and operates only in Swindon. The schools being transferred are St Mark’s CofE Junior School, Wyndham Park Infants’ School and Exeter House Special School.
   
• The transfer was approved on the condition that additional funding available to both trusts will be reviewed. It was felt that the move will bring increased stability and sustainability for both trusts’ schools. The former Somerset Road schools will form Brunel’s Salisbury Hub.

North West

• Approval was granted for a new trust, Synergy Education MAT, to form and for two primary schools and one special school to convert and join it. This came with the condition that the trust provides a financial plan to demonstrate long term stability.

London

• The London regional advisory board did not meet in September.

Note: Published regional advisory board minutes do not contain full details of the school context.

Written and compiled by Matilda Martin

Find our interactive map of England’s multi-academy trusts here, along with links to all of our MAT Tracker content