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

Some 174 decisions were approved, including 73 conversions, 14 mergers and the establishment of nine new multi-academy trusts (MATs).

There were also 28 academies that changed trusts, and 10 single-academy trusts (SATs) that joined MATs.
 

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

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

North East

• Two schools in single academy trusts in the North East were given the backing to join MATs. Monkton Academy Juniors in South Tyneside has been approved to join Oak Learning Trust, which currently has five schools, while Berwick Academy, in Northumberland, is to join Pele Trust, which currently has eight schools. Both trusts are based in the region.
   
• Red Hall Primary School in Darlington has been approved to join the Education Village Academy Trust. The trust currently runs seven schools in the town and surrounding areas, including secondary, primary and special schools.
   

North West

• October saw the approval of a new MAT, the Chester Diocesan Learning Trust, in the North West. Nine primary schools across Chester West and Cheshire, the Wirral and Warrington also received approval to convert and join the trust: Hoole Church of England Primary, West Kirby St Bridget’s CofE Primary, Capenhurst CofE Primary, Hoylake Holy Trinity CofE Primary, Lostock Gralam CofE Primary, Davenham CofE Primary, St Andrew’s CofE Aided Primary, St Thomas’ CofE Primary, and Oxton St Saviour’s CofE Aided Primary School. In discussions, the advisory board said the trust’s focus should be on recruiting for critical posts it had interim staff for at the time of approval.
   
• Eldon Primary School in Lancashire was approved to be sponsored by Star Academies. There were eight representations as part of the discussion - some supportive and some that expressed concerns about the school’s inspection and conversion. The school had received an “inadequate” Ofsted judgement at an inspection in March before headline grades were removed. The school and trust were contacted for comment.
   
• Single-academy trust Stapeley Broad Lane CofE Primary School, in Cheshire East, received approval to join Cornovii Trust MAT, which has six schools across Cheshire East. The board commented on declining finances, while the DfE’s School Financial Support and Oversight (SFSO) said it was working closely with the trust. The school and trust were contacted for comment.
   
• Two schools in Bolton - Beaumont Primary and Lostock Primary - were approved to convert and join Leverhulme Academy CofE Community Trust on the condition the trust deploys a school resource management adviser because of declining finances. These will be the trust’s first primaries (it currently has two secondaries in Bolton) and the board said the conversions would be a good strategic development of the trust’s primary provision. The trust was contacted for comment.
   
• In October, the board deferred a decision on whether The Deans Primary School in Salford should convert and join the Kings Academy Trust, which has four schools in Salford. The board wanted reassurance from the trust on support in place for its alternative provision setting, Arbour Academy, clarification on the trust’s governance, and a review of the trust’s growth plan and due diligence. Kings CEO Amanda Nicholson told Tes the trust met with the DfE in November to provide reassurance and a new governing body has been put in place for the AP. The DfE subsequently approved the conversion at the November meeting.
   

Yorkshire and the Humber

• Six schools in Kirklees have been approved to form a new MAT, according to the minutes for the Yorkshire and Humber advisory board. The Heritage Academy Trust will take on two academies and four maintained schools. The four schools that have been approved to convert and join are Spring Grove Infant and Nursery, Moorlands Primary, Reinwood Community Junior and Reinwood Infant and Nursery. The two academies joining are Saledine Nook High and Lindley Juniors - both& from single-academy trusts.
   
• A move to consolidate academy trust provision in Castleford, West Yorkshire, has also been approved. All four academies in the Northern Ambition Academies Trust have been approved to move to the Castleford Academy Trust: Airedale Academy, Airedale Juniors, Airedale Infants and Oyster Park Primary. Before the move, Castleford Academy comprised five schools.
   
• The creation of additional specialist places in mainstream schools has been approved in two different areas of the region. Healing Academy, in the Harbour Learning Trust in North East Lincolnshire, has been approved to establish a 12-place specialist provision. Yarborough Academy, a single academy trust in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire will open a unit to support children with social emotional and mental health needs (SEMH) in early years and key stage 1. And in Sheffield, Abbeyfields Primary Academy will establish a 12-place SEN unit.
   

East Midlands

• Two primary schools, Cantrell Primary and Nursery School (voluntary) and Heage Primary School (academy order), are converting to join Transform Trust (which has 24 schools in Nottingham).
   
• Minster Trust for Education (eight schools in Nottinghamshire) is also gaining two new academies: Norwell CofE Primary and St Matthew’s CofE Primary, which have both voluntarily converted.
   
• The White Hills Park Trust (six schools in Nottingham) is expanding by two schools after taking on Phoenix Infant and Nursery School and Priory Junior.
   
• Sir Christopher Hatton Academy, part of Hatton Academies Trust (four schools), has been approved to increase its capacity by 35 for this academic year.
   

West Midlands

• Two new MATs were approved in the West Midlands in October. Ascent Academies Trust will have two special schools in Dudley: Woodsetton School and The Brier School. Both of these received approval to convert. In meeting notes, the board reflected there is a need for new trusts that can drive system-wide improvement and address the needs of local communities, particularly in SEND. The board supported a recommendation for the trust’s chief operating officer to be supported in assessing estates and specialist provision for pupils with SEND.
   
• The other new MAT that received approval was the Aston University Stem Education Academy Trust in Birmingham. The MAT will consist of Aston University Engineering Academy, which is currently a SAT, and Aston University Maths School, which is to open next year. The new MAT hopes to join with other schools in future so it can provide provision from early years through to sixth form.
   
• October also saw four schools in federations approved to convert and join MATs. Criftins CofE Primary and Cockshutt CofE Primary and Nursery, both in Shropshire, will convert and join the Marches Academy Trust (11 schools in Shropshire). The two primaries are currently in Mere’s Edge Foundation. Similarly, special provision Oakwood School and Rushell Primary in Walsall, in North Star Federation, have received approval to convert and join the Mercian Trust, which has nine schools across Walsall and Sandwell. In both cases, the trusts had already been working with the federations.
   

East of England

• Lakeview School, a primary in Bedfordshire, was approved to convert and join Pioneer Learning Trust (four schools).
   
• The Pyramid Schools Trust (seven schools) was approved - with conditions - to take on two Bedfordshire single-academy trusts: Beecroft Academy, an “RI”-rated primary, and Brooklands Middle School, rated “good”. The board heard that Pyramid has experience of schools changing their age range as part of a move from a three-tier to a two-tier school system, and is already supporting Beecroft. The conditions attached were for Pyramid to strengthen its trust board “to include greater diversity and expertise” and to “improve external scrutiny and challenge to enhance standards”.
   
• Southend High School for Girls, a single-academy trust, will transfer to Alpha Trust (five schools).
   
• Cavendish CofE VC Primary School, in Suffolk, will convert under an academy order and be sponsored by The Tilian Partnership, which runs 10 primaries in the county.
   
• Chiltern Learning Trust’s Marston Vale Middle School will become a primary school as part of a wider restructure to a two-tier system in the area.
   
• Four Essex primaries are converting and joining Canonium Learning Trust (eight schools): St Peters CofE VA Primary, Woodham Walter CofE VC Primary, East Hanningfield CofE Primary; and Langham Primary.
   
• St Paul’s Catholic Primary in Hertfordshire is converting and joining St Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy Trust, which runs seven primaries and one secondary, in the same county.
   
• Holywell Primary School, in Hertfordshire, is converting and joining Inclusive Multi Academy Trust, which runs three primaries.
   
• St Dominic Catholic Primary School in Harpenden is converting and joining All Saints Catholic Academy Trust, which runs nine primaries and two secondaries across south Hertfordshire.
   

London

• A number of trusts merged in October, according to the minutes for the London regional advisory board. T4 Trust’s two schools - the Arts Xchange, an alternative provision school, and Ian Mikardo High, a special academy - are now part of the nine-school Beckmead Trust, based in Whyteleaf, Surrey.
   
• The two ElmWey Learning Trust (ELT) schools - the secondary academies Heathside School and Heathside Walton-on-Thames - have transferred to Every Child, Every Day Academy Trust, a three-school trust based in Richmond-Upon-Thames. This comes after the retirement of ELT’s founding CEO.
   
• Another merger comes with the consolidation of the South Orpington Learning Alliance (SOLA) into Inicio Educational Trust. SOLA’s seven academies - Tubbenden Primary, Chelsfield Primary, Darrick Wood Junior, Pratts Bottom Primary, The Highway Primary School, Green Street Green Primary School and Orchard Way Primary School - have joined the five-school Inicio Educational Trust, based in Chislehurst.
   
• A fourth merger comes with the two Flourish Learning Trust schools moving to Learning in Harmony Trust. Two special schools, Joseph Clarke and Whitefield School, have been approved to transfer to the 12-school East Ham MAT.
   
• Two SATs, the secondary St Paul’s Academy and the all-through school St Matthew Academy, have joined the four-school St Benedict Catholic Academy Trust in Orpington.
   
• A new MAT, Bursted Wood Learning Trust, has been approved. The Bexleyheath trust will be formed of Bursted Wood Primary School and Sherwood Park Primary School, which have both had approval to convert from SATs to the MAT, as well as Danson Primary School, whose conversion into an academy has also been approved.
   

South West

• Ventrus and Tarka Learning Partnership are merging to make the Lighthouse Learning Partnership. All eight of Tarka’s schools, includes seven primary schools and one secondary school, have moved across, joining with Ventrus’ 24 schools. Lighthouse will have 30 schools across Bristol and Devon.
   
• A SAT, Exmouth Community College, is also moving to join Lighthouse Learning Partnership.
   
• Elmlea Junior School and Elmlea Infant School, in Bristol, are moving from Elmlea Schools’ Trust to the Russell Education Trust (five schools in Bristol).
   
• St Mark’s CofE School, Bath and North East Somerset (Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership) is adding a second 20-place resource base on site for autistic children.
   

South East

• The October meeting revealed that the John Madejski Academy is moving from The White Horse Federation to Greenshaw Learning Trust.

• A request for Homewood College in Brighton and Hove to have its academy order revoked was referred to the minister.

• Two schools currently with The Decus Educational Trust were approved to transfer to Aletheia Academies Trust - Whitehill Primary School and Gravesend Grammar School.

• Chattenden Primary School will move from Peninsula Gateway Academy Trust to the Inspire Partnership Academies Trust.

• The Rowans SEN primary provision school will move from The Howard Academy Trust to The Inspiring Change Multi-Academy Trust. However, conditions were attached: to recruit new trustees to develop the breadth of expertise on the trust board, and a school improvement strategy must be provided for review.

• Two Bridges primary school will join Olive Academies.

• Robertsbridge Community College will join Aquinas Church of England Trust.

• St Andrew’s Catholic School and St Clements Catholic Primary School will join Xavier Catholic Education Trust.

• St Michael’s Roman Catholic Primary School and St Bartholomew’s Catholic Primary School will join the currently 28-school Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership.

• North Downs Primary School will join Everychild Partnership Trust.

• St Nicolas and St Mary Church of England Primary School will join Diocese of Canterbury Academies Trust.

• Grafham Grange School will move from Orchard Hill College Academy Trust to London South East Academy Trust.

• 15 decisions covering transfers, SAT-to-MAT conversions and significant changes were made by the regional director outside of the AB meeting.

• Four of those decisions were denials of requests for conversions, each for primaries rated as “good” or “outstanding” under their most recent Ofsted rankings.

• 10 academy openings were approved in principle.
   

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

Written and compiled by Mary-Louise Clews, Matilda Martin, Cerys Turner, 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 our MAT Tracker content