The Department for Education wants to see multi-academy trust mergers taking place across the country, according to new documents setting out its plans for the school system.
New Trust Development Statements, published by the DfE, set out how it wants MATs to grow, open or move into areas of England that have been identified as having underperforming schools.
The reports show that DfE regional teams have identified a widespread need for single or smaller academy trusts to merge or join larger MATs.
They also reveal how the department has concerns that in some areas smaller schools should not be left behind as more schools move into MATs.
The statements have been published for each of the 55 Education Investment Areas (EIAs) in the country - broken down into eight regional reports. Each sets out the department’s expectations for academy trust growth in these 55 local authority areas.
Here is everything you need to know:
Calls for widespread multi-academy trust mergers
The DfE expectation that more trusts should merge is a common theme throughout the new reports.
In the East of England, MAT mergers are called for in the statements for all seven EIAs in the region.
The DfE also calls for trusts to merge in the majority of EIAs in the South West, South East and North East, and in just under half of the 13 EIAs in the North West.
The types of mergers being suggested vary and include smaller trusts joining larger MATs to “bring coherence” to the school system.
The DfE reports highlight areas of the country where there are a high number of small trusts working in compact areas.
The reports in some areas encourage “academies operating as single-academy trusts and in smaller MATs to consolidate into high-quality MATs by voluntary merger”.
The reports also advocate “trust growth leading to consolidation, through mergers, of the educational landscape”.
Concern over the smallest schools being isolated
Another recurring theme in the new Trust Development Statements is a concern that smaller schools are not left behind as a result of MAT growth.
This is highlighted as a concern in more than half of the areas of the East of England, two out of the three EIAs in the South East and three of six in the East Midlands.
It was less common in the statements for the EIAs in the North of England.
In some of the statements for the East Midlands, the DfE says that proposals for MAT growth should demonstrate “how networks will be built that ensure the smallest schools can be part of successful larger hubs, so that no school is left isolated and viability concerns are well managed”.
Similar issues are raised in this region for three county council areas: Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
Elsewhere, in Norfolk the report says the DfE is interested in proposals from “MATs that have strong performance in operating small, rural or coastal primary schools and primary schools in urban areas of higher deprivation”.
Trusts encouraged to take on special schools
Across the country, the DfE is looking for trusts to run special schools.
Expectations on how this should be delivered vary across the EIAs.
Some reports, such as the one in Leeds, set out a plan for new special schools and alternative provision to be established as part of mainstream trusts.
Elsewhere in Yorkshire, the DfE report for Rotherham says it is keen to grow trusts with a strong track record and expertise of “providing a compelling offer for children with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream academies”.
The report for Sunderland says the department is keen to receive proposals from single-academy trusts, local authority-maintained schools or smaller trusts providing special or AP who wish to come together to form a new high-quality trust.
While the report for Dudley calls for proposals from existing trusts with special or AP school expertise to set up a new regional hub.
Primary growth
Unsurprisingly, the need for new trusts or trust growth was more commonly identified in primary schools than secondary in the EIA reports.
This reflects how academisation has been more common in secondary schools.
The latest figures show that 80 per cent of secondary school students and 40 per cent of primary school pupils are educated in academies.
This pattern is reflected in the new DfE statements. For instance, in Sandwell in the West Midlands the report says the DfE is working with the council to move the remaining three secondary schools and 65 maintained primary schools into trusts.
It adds: “We envisage we will need to encourage new trusts into the Sandwell area, particularly primary-only trusts, mixed primary-secondary trusts and trusts seeking to establish primary hubs in the West Midlands.”
There are also a number of areas where the reports explicitly say that no new secondary trusts are needed, including in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Sefton and South Gloucestershire.
Warning of a fragmented school system
The DfE reports for parts of the North West say academy trust proposals are needed to bring together a “fragmented” school system.
This phrase is used for the expectation section of reports for Liverpool, Oldham, St Helens and the Wirral.
The need for trusts to be consolidated across an area also features in the reports for EIAs across the country, including in the majority of the 13 EIAs in the North West.
The Trust Development Statements have been published alongside the government’s Academies Regulatory and Commissioning Review.
They aim to provide MAT leaders with an insight into the development the government wants to see in EIAs, which represent more than a third of the local education authority areas of the country.
The EIAs were created in the government’s Levelling Up White Paper last year to target “school improvement interventions” and support disadvantaged pupils.
The local authority areas identified have been chosen for extra intervention based on their scores at key stage 2 and GCSE in the three years before the Covid pandemic.
