Here are the key regional board decisions affecting multi-academy trusts in each region in England in March 2024. For more updates, visit our regional advisory boards hub.

In total, there were 13 academy orders and 55 academy conversions. Two trust mergers and five academy moves between trusts were approved.

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

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

North East

• In March, the regional board gave approval for three primary schools in County Durham - Esh Winning Primary School, St. Andrews Primary School and Thornley Primary School - to convert to academy status and join WISE Academies, a trust with 12 primary schools and one special school across the North East. The minutes note that WISE “has a clear trust and school improvement strategy and is already working with all three schools on curriculum and school improvement”.

• The board also approved the rebrokering of Oxclose Primary Academy and Oxclose Community Academy in Washington - currently part of the two-school MAT, Discover Learning Trust - to the Laidlaw Schools Trust, a MAT with five primaries, two all-through schools, one secondary and one alternative provision school across Newcastle upon Tyne, Sunderland and County Durham. The DfE confirmed that Discover Learning Trust is closing down. The minutes note that several of Laidlaw’s schools need to make “significant improvements” to performance outcomes. The RD noted that the board “would want to see the impact of recent changes before further secondary growth is approved” at Laidlaw.

• Approval was given for Biddick Academy, a secondary single academy trust in Sunderland, to join the North East Learning Trust, which has seven secondaries and five primaries.

• Approval with conditions was granted for the transfer of all seven schools - one secondary and six primaries - run by the 1590 Trust, in Stockton-on-Tees, to Vision Academy Learning Trust (VALT). VALT currently has three secondaries and five primaries across Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland, and will be renamed Vision 1590 Academy Trust. Approval was on the condition that the trust accepts a school resource management adviser (SRMA) and confirms its governance model with the DfE.

• Approval was given for three primaries - Gainford Church of England Primary School and Pre-School in County Durham, Henshaw Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School and Greenhead Church of England Primary School in Northumberland - to academise and join Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Learning Trust (DNDLT). The trust currently has 18 primaries across the North East.
   

East Midlands

• Stubbin Wood School, a special school run by the T.E.A.M Education Trust in Derbyshire, is looking to launch three new satellite sites: Caunton Dean Hole CofE Primary School, Nottinghamshire, to provide primary SEND provision; The Brunts Academy (Greenwood Academies Trust, Nottinghamshire) to provide secondary SEND provision; and Chesterfield Football Club, Derbyshire, to provide post-16 SEND provision. However, all three decisions have been deferred by the regional board until more information on the proposals is provided.

• St Bernard’s School, run by Inspire Connected Communities Trust, in Lincolnshire, has been approved to have its residential designation removed, to enable more children who are not on roll at the school to access its provision. Currently, young people are having to travel long distances out of the county to access short breaks provision.

• Sutton Bonington Primary School and Normanton-on-Soar Primary School are due to join Equals Trust (12 schools in Nottinghamshire). The board highlighted that there is a particular need in Nottinghamshire for trusts with capacity to take on smaller schools.

• Shenton Primary School and Bridge Junior School, both based in Leicester, will join Attenborough Learning Trust (six primary schools based in Leicester).
   

South West

• The nine-school Cathedral Schools Trust, in Bristol, is gaining two schools - Ashton Gate Primary School, and Henleaze Infant School - and absorbing single academy trust Henleaze Junior School. All three schools are based in the city. Cathedral Trust will now have three secondary schools and nine primary schools overall.

• Aspire Academy, a special school in Bath, is transferring from Futura Learning Partnership to North Star Academy Trust (NSAT). NSAT is a special school trust specialising in SEMH needs, with four schools based in North London.

• The junior and infant academies in Bristol that form the two-school Elmlea Schools’ Trust are requesting to transfer to Russell Education Trust, which runs five secondary free schools across the South of England. However, the regional director has deferred the move until Russell Education Trust provides more information on its plans to grow in the Bristol area.

• A primary academy and secondary academy are moving from the 15-school Diocese of Bristol Academies Trust to The Park Academies Trust, which runs eight schools in and around Swindon. Both the Deanery CE Academy and Kingfisher CE Academy, also based in Swindon, are rated as “requires improvement” or “requires special measures”. The Park Academies Trust is one of the strongest local performing MATs for secondary in Swindon, the minutes state.

• In Somerset, Lovington Church of England Primary School and Evercreech Church of England Primary School are joining Preston Primary Academy Trust as part of an academy order. They will join Preston’s 10 other primary schools, all based in Somerset.

• Another Somerset school, Robert Blake School, will be joining United Learning Trust, a national MAT of nearly 100 schools.
   

West Midlands

• Two new Herefordshire MATs received approval from the regional board in March: The Fern Academy Trust and Orchard Multi Academy Trust.

• The Fern Academy Trust will be a three-school primary MAT, made up of Marlbrook Primary School, St Martin’s Primary School and Wellington Primary School and Nursery, which have all received approval to convert to academy status. Marlbrook and St Martin’s were already in a three-school federation together, and Wellington was collaborating with that federation. Forming a trust will allow the family of schools to grow and increase capacity, and allow reserves to be directed at improvement and resources, the minutes state.

• Orchard Multi Academy Trust received approval to become a four-school primary MAT. Three of its four schools have been single-academy trusts: Stretton Sugwas CofE Academy, Canyon Pyon CofE Academy and Burghill Community Academy. One voluntary aided school - St James’ CofE Primary School - will convert to join the MAT.

• Cheslyn Hay Primary School in Staffordshire will convert and join Future Generation Trust, which has five primary schools across Staffordshire. The board recommended an SRMA.

• The board gave its approval for All Saints CofE Primary School to be sponsored by the six-school Staffordshire Schools MAT. In discussion, members said this decision would support the area’s need to academise small rural schools in the area to resolve “viability issues”. It was recommended that the Regions Group monitor the trust. CEO Charlene Gethin told Tes that the trust had already been working with All Saints before it received the academy order. She said she is happy with the trust monitoring to make sure it is being held to account and so that support can be put in place if needed. Ms Gethin said the trust has an agile growth strategy in place to increase its current leadership capacity as it grows.
   

North West

• The North West board gave its approval with one condition for three primary schools to join the One Community Trust in Warrington, which has five schools currently. The board approved the conversions, conditional on a conversation with the trust to “better understand its recruitment plans for the trust board as it grows”.

• Proposals for a new MAT, The People’s Learning Trust, were considered by the board and deferred, along with the conversion of four primary schools (Bidston Avenue Primary School, Meadow Community Primary School, Wincham Community Primary School and Oldfield Primary School) and a pupil referral unit (The Bridge Short Stay School) to join it. The board reflected positively on the proposals but said the regional director may wish to gather information from the trust on the financial impact, specific detail on school improvement, what experience the trust will secure to support the schools, and accountability arrangements.

• The board also deferred a decision on four primary schools converting to join Pope Francis Catholic MAT, which currently has three secondary schools across Knowsley and Sefton. The schools were St Edmunds & St Thomas Catholic Primary School, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School, Our Lady of Walsingham Primary School and St Marys Catholic Primary School. Board members reflected positively on the proposal but discussed the steps the trust is planning to take to bring in primary expertise and experience to support the schools.

• Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School and Alston Lane Catholic Primary School in Lancashire received approval to join Mater Ecclesiae Catholic MAT, which has eight primary schools in the area. The board discussed the need to clarify responsibilities linked to current service-level agreements. A conflict was noted as member Helen O’Neill‘s trust provides improvement support to Mater Ecclesiae.

• Over Hall Community School, a single-academy trust in Cheshire, received approval to join Cheshire Academies Trust, which has nine schools in the area. Hebden Green Community School, a special school, will also convert and join the trust.

• Range High School in Sefton, another SAT, was given approval with a condition to join Southport Learning Trust, which has seven schools in Sefton. The trust will engage in an external review of governance. Its governance model must be shared and the trust must ensure it is getting independent quality assurance.
   

London

• The regional director gave approval with conditions for Byron Court Primary School in Brent to join the Harris Federation, a 54-school MAT across London and the East of England. The minutes show that the school received an academy order after it was judged “inadequate” in November 2023. Minutes show that the school’s governing body informed the RD in March this year that “an active complaint had been submitted to Ofsted regarding the published inspection report”. The minutes also show that 118 representations had been received regarding the proposal for the primary school to join Harris. The sponsoring of the school by Harris was given approval subject to the outcome of the active complaint lodged with Ofsted.

• Approval was given for the merging of Partnership Learning - a trust across London and the East with five secondaries, five primaries, two all-through schools and one special school - to merge with QED Academy Trust, which has three secondaries and one primary school. Under the agreement, QED will cease to exist.

• The board gave approval for Hurstmere School, a SAT in Bexley, to join The Howard Academy Trust in Medway. The trust currently has four primaries and three secondaries in the East of England.

• Minutes also show that the conversion of Blessed Sacrament RC Primary School in Islington to join The Cardinal Hume Academies Trust in Westminster was declined by the minister after it was referred for a decision.
   

Yorkshire and the Humber

• Four village primary schools in North Yorkshire have been given the go-ahead to convert to academy status and join the 13-school Pathfinder MAT. They are: Barlow Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary; Burton Salmon Community Primary School; Chapel Haddlesey Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School; and Welburn Community Primary School. All four schools have fewer than 100 pupils on roll and all are rated “good” by Ofsted.

• Elevate MAT (14 schools) is set to take on two primaries in North Yorkshire: Sessay Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, rated “good”, and Husthwaite Church of England Primary School, rated as “requires improvement”. In both cases, the trust was told to share full financial due diligence - including consolidated forecasts - with the department prior to academy conversion.

• Hedon Primary School in the East Riding of Yorkshire is set to join Horizon MAT, which runs seven primaries in and around Hull. The trust has accepted an SRMA, and board minutes say the Education and Skills Funding Agency is “to be reassured about finances post SRMA-deployment.”
   

South East

• St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Bicester is set to become the first primary school to join the three-secondary trust, The Pope Francis Multi Academy Company. The minutes note that the Oxfordshire-based MAT is the only Catholic trust in the county, and warned that the trust must be given feedback on the board’s “disappointment with its finances [and] the lack of legal expertise and a primary school practitioner on the board.” The minutes also note the trust “should implement the SMRA recommendations”.

• Meanwhile, the board approved the conversion of Willen Primary School in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire to academy status and its move to join the nearby Denbigh Alliance, which already has three primary schools and two secondaries.

• Four schools were approved to join Surrey-based Weydon MAT’s existing eight schools, which cover primary and secondary phases. The schools approved to join the trust were: Frogmore Community College secondary in Yately, Hampshire; the Hindhead, Surrey-based Beacon Hill Community Primary School; and special schools Clifton Hill in Caterham and the two-site Brooklands school in Reigate. The minutes said the three latter Surrey-based conversions would “need to be staggered due to local authority capacity”.

• Approval was given for two Surrey catholic primary schools St Francis in Caterham and St Joseph in Redhill to join the county’s 17-school Xavier Catholic Education Trust.

• In West Sussex, the board gave approval with conditions for the Burgess Hill-based St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary to convert to academy status and join the Bosco Catholic Education Trust. The approval was given providing the trust commissions an SRMA visit and an external review of governance.
   

East of England

• Watford St John’s Church of England Primary School, in Hertfordshire, was approved by the board to join Poppy Academy Trust, a MAT with two primaries.

• Also in Hertfordshire, Ashtree Primary School is set to convert and join the 10-school Future Academies Trust, after receiving two “requires improvement” ratings.

• Forres Primary School, in Hoddesdon, has also received two consecutive “requires improvement” Ofsted judgements and will now join Spiral Partnership Trust, which runs five primaries in and around St Albans. Danes Educational Trust, which has 12 academies - including in Hoddesdon - had also been considered as a potential match.

• Two Hertfordshire primaries - Thorley Hill and Richard Whittington - successfully applied to convert to academy status and join the 14-school Ivy Learning Trust.

• An application from Luton-based Lealands High School and Primary School to convert and form the Lumen Education Trust was deferred, pending discussions about the potential of additional schools joining the proposed MAT, and plans to improve outcomes at the secondary school.

• Five-school MAT, the Shared Learning Trust, based in Luton, was approved to join the five-school Advantage Schools Trust, based in Bedford.

• The board deferred a decision to let Castle Newnham, a federation of two schools across two separate sites, join Bedfordshire Schools Trust Ltd, which runs 10 academies across the middle, primary and secondary phases. The trust’s ability and capacity to improve performance outcomes at the two schools were discussed.

• Davenant Foundation School in Essex will be allowed to have a faith designation on condition that its governance structure is brought into line with best practice. The school is considering joining a MAT, minutes note.

• Buttsbury Junior School, a single-academy trust in Essex, will be allowed to form a primary by lowering its age range from 7-11 to 4-11, pending a consultation.

• The 33-school Peterborough Diocese Education Trust was approved to sponsor Newborough CofE Primary School, in Peterborough. The board heard that there are only 13 church schools in the city which have not converted to become academies.

• St Laurence Catholic Primary School, run by Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Trust, in Cambridgeshire, was approved to open an enhanced resource base for primary-age children with an education, health and care plan (EHCP), where social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) is the primary designation.

• Ravenswood Community Primary School, in Suffolk, was approved to convert and join EKO Trust, which runs seven primaries and special schools.

• Approval was given for Langer Primary Academy in Suffolk, run by Unity Schools Partnership, to add a specialist resource base for 12 children in Reception and KS1 with severe learning difficulties.

• The amalgamation of Greenfield CofE VC Lower School and Pulloxhill Lower School, in Central Bedfordshire, was escalated to ministerial level.

• The designation of faith status to the Open Academy in Norfolk, run by the 40-school Diocese of Norwich Education and Academies Trust, was escalated for final ministerial approval.

• Also escalated for ministerial approval was the de-amalgamation of Iceni Academy in Norfolk, run by the 20-school Academy Transformation Trust, from an all-through school into separate primary and secondary schools.
   

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

Written and compiled by Mary-Louise Clews, Matilda Martin, Jasmine Norden, John Roberts and Charlotte Santry

Find our interactive map of England’s multi-academy trusts by clicking here, where you will also find links to all of our MAT Tracker content